DEATH 

RESUR- 
RECnON 

BJOBKLUND 


W,   -A 


UNIVERSUY  OF 
C*UfORN»» 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALlcOK.^iA.  oM  DIEGO 

LA  JOLLA,  CALIFORNIA  3 C't>Vf(U- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 


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GUSTAF    JOHAN    BJORKLUND 


Death  and  Resurrection 


FROM  THE  POINT  OF  VIEW 
OF     THE     CELL-THEORY 


GUSTAF  BJORKLUND 


Translated  from  the  Swedish  by 
J.  E.  FRIES 


THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING   COMPANY 

LONDON  AGENTS 

Kbqan  Paul,  Trench,  Trubner  &Co.,  Ltd. 
1910 


Copyright  by 

THE   OPEN   COURT    PUBLISHING   CO. 

1910 


PUBLISHERS'    PREFACE. 

NEVER  in  the  history  of  human 
thought  has  the  interest  in  the 
soul  and  its  immortality  been  greater 
and  keener  than  now.  The  leading  in- 
vestigators of  the  Society  of  Psychical 
Research  have  taken  up  the  problem  of 
enquiring  into  the  facts  of  spiritual  ex- 
periences, telepathy,  forebodings  and 
kindred  phenomena.  The  result  has 
been  rather  negative,  for,  while  we  have 
received  innumerable  single  facts,  they 
all  suffer  from  the  common  fault  that 
they  are  too  subjective  in  their  nature 
to  furnish  a  proof  that  could  be  object- 
ively valid.  Moreover,  many  reports 
come  from  witnesses  whose  mental  con- 
stitution is  under  the  suspicion  of  being 
pathological,  and  so  their  value  is  prac- 
tically null. 


vlll  PREFACE. 

Of  much  greater  importance  would 
be  an  investigation  as  to  the  possibility 
of  immortality  on  the  basis  of  scientific 
data,  but,  strange  to  say,  this  method 
has  been  almost  entirely  lost  sight  of 
by  leaders  of  the  S.  P.  R.  If  we  could 
form  a  definite  theory  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  soul  based  on  exact  observation, 
we  would  be  enabled,  first,  to  explain 
man's  instinctive  yearning  for  immor- 
tality; and,  secondly,  to  form  a  definite 
idea  of  the  condition  of  the  soul  after 
death.  Thus  we  could  exclude  all  the 
many  mistakes  which  are  now  made, 
and  which  originate  through  an  errone- 
ous and  partly  superstitious  notion  of 
the  relation  of  the  dead  to  the  living. 
The  result  is  shown  in  the  reports  of 
the  S.  P.  R.,  abounding  in  statements 
of  ghost  stories,  which  can  be  regarded 
only  as  a  continuation  of  folk-lore.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  work  of  the  S.  P. 
R.  has  so  far  provided  very  little  help 
toward  a  better  comprehension  of  im- 
mortality. 

Among  the  men  who  have  done  the 


PREFACE.  ix 

work  of  a  sympathetic  reconstruction  of 
the  idea  of  immortality  on  the  basis  of 
science,  there  is  to  be  mentioned,  next 
to  Fechner,  Gustave  Bjorklund,  a  Swed- 
ish scientist  who  is  well  known  in  his 
own  country,  but  who  has  been  almost 
entirely  ignored  in  other  lands.  The  ob- 
vious reason  of  this  is  the  inaccessibil- 
ity of  his  writings,  which  have  not  yet 
been  translated  into  English. 

We  do  not  believe  Bjorklund's  solu- 
tion is  the  right  one,  but  we  do  be- 
lieve that  he  has  made  a  contribution 
to  the  philosophy  of  religion  which 
ought  not  to  be  ignored.  His  case  is 
similar  to  Fechner's.  We  have  pub- 
lished Fechner's  book  On  Life  After 
Death  and  we  are  glad  to  present  the 
views  of  Bjorklund  on  Death  and  Resur- 
rection. 

Dr.  Cams  has  sketched  his  views  re- 
peatedly in  The  Soul  of  Man,  in  Whence 
and  Whither,  and  two  articles  published 
in  The  Monist,  with  special  reference 
to  Fechner.  They  show  also  why 
Bjorklund's  belief   is   unacceptable. 


X  PREFACE. 

Nevertheless  we  publish  Bjorklund's 
book  because  we  heartily  sympathize 
with  his  endeavor  to  justify  those  senti- 
ments which  instinctively  point  out  that 
death  is  not  a  finality,  and  that  the  pur- 
pose of  life  is  not  limited  to  the  span  of 
our  days  between  the  cradle  and  the 
grave,  but  that  it  has  a  further  and 
fuller  significance. 

We  hope  that  Bjorklund's  book  will 
be  welcomed  as  the  contribution  of  an 
earnest  and  prominent  scientific  think- 
er on  the  important  question,  "If  a  man 
die,  shall  he  live  again  1" 

THE  PUBLISHERS. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 

JOHAN  GUSTAF  BJORKLUND  was 
bom  the  tenth  of  November,  in  the 
year  1846.  His  parents  were  farmers 
in  very  small  circumstances.  His  father 
seems  to  have  been  endowed  with  a 
good  business  head  and,  ultimately,  be- 
came a  real  estate  owner  on  a  small 
scale,  first  in  one  city  and  then  in  Up- 
sala,  the  principal  university  town  of 
Sweden.  Poverty  was  familiar  to 
Bjorklund  throughout  his  life.     Doubt- 

For  the  biographical  data  of  Bjorklund's  life 
I  am  indebted  to  S.  A.  Fries,  D.  D.,  well  known 
in  continental  theological  circles  as  a  scientist 
of  rank  and  founder  of  the  international  Con- 
gresses in  the  interest  of  the  History  of  Relig- 
ion. (See  Theologische  Literatur  Kalender 
1906;  Wer  ist's?  1908.)  Dr.  Fries,  who  is  one 
of  the  leading  ministers  in  Stockholm,  has  done 
more  in  speech  and  print  than  anybody  else  to 
introduce  Bjorklund  to  the   reading  public. 


xii  PREFACE. 

less  one  reason  for  this  was  that  his 
consuming  interest  in  sociology  and 
philosophy  prevented  him  from  taking 
those  higher  examinations,  which  in 
Sweden  are  indispensable  for  obtain- 
ing any  official  position.  He  studied, 
however,  for  several  years  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Upsala,  but  followed  no 
recognized  course,  and  it  was  only  be- 
cause of  the  ardent  persuasion  of  his 
friends  that  he  took  a  degree  as  B.  A. 

In  1884,  Bjorklund  moved  to  Stock- 
holm, where  he  remained  until  his  death, 
in  1903.  At  the  University  of  Stock- 
holm, he  took  the  courses  in  biology  and 
natural  science,  and  won  for  himself  the 
admiration  and  lasting  friendship  of 
many  of  the  professors  of  that  institu- 
tion. During  this  time  he  mainly  sup- 
ported himself  by  teaching  philosophy, 
and  among  other  pupils,  afterward  re- 
nowned, was  Ellen  Key,  the  well-known 
Swedish  writer  on  sociology  and  the 
woman  question.  The  most  absorbing 
interests  during  this  period  were,  how- 
ever, sociology  and  the  peace  movement. 


PREFACE.  xiil 

To  broaden  his  views  and  study  social 
conditions  in  general,  Bjorklund  under- 
took several  protracted  journeys  to  Eng- 
land, Germany,  Belgium,  and  France. 
From  1887,  Bjorklund  began  to  pub- 
lish the  fruits  of  his  untiring  labor.  His 
first  work  was,  "The  Fusion  of  the  Na- 
tions." In  that,  as  in  "The  Anarchy  of 
Evolution"  and  "Peace  and  Disarma- 
ment," Bjorklund  throws  his  over- 
whelmingly convincing  statistical  re- 
sources and  solid  scientific  learning  in 
favor  of  an  ultimate  universal,  but  more 
especially  European  union  of  the  na- 
tions. Toward  this  goal  it  is  necessary 
to  steer,  according  to  Bjorklund,  if  a 
general  "Anarchy  of  Evolution"  is  to  be 
avoided;  for  that  is  the  condition  that 
will  prevail,  if  the  state  neglects  to 
carry  out  an  organization  of  society  that 
shall  keep  step  with  the  degree  of  ma- 
terial culture  reached.  "Because  dur- 
ing the  most  profound  peace,  a  nation 
suffers  from  its  own  army  the  same  im- 
peding influences  that  in  time  of  war  is 
due  to  the  hostile  army." 


XIV  PREFACE. 

The  last  mentioned  book,  "Peace  and 
Disarmament,"  at  once  made  Bjorklund 
famous.  It  was  translated  into  French, 
German,  English,  Polish,  Dutch,  Hun- 
garian and  several  other  languages,  and 
would  no  doubt  have  brought  its  author 
a  Nobel  prize,  had  it  appeared  fifteen 
years  later.  Bjorklund  was  now  elected 
an  honorary  member  of  the  Swedish 
Peace  Society.  At  the  Peace  Congress 
in  Bern  (1892)  his  treatise,  "The  Armed 
Peace,"  was  distributed  in  English,  Ger- 
man and  French,  and  the  Italian  Soci- 
ety, "Unione  Operaia  Umberto  I,"  sub- 
sequently elected  him  an  honorary  mem- 
ber. 

In  his  later  years  Bjorklund  devoted 
less  time  to  active  work  in  the  universal 
peace  movement.  He  became  more  ab- 
sorbed in  scientific  research  and  the 
problems  of  philosophy.  An  important 
impulse  to  his  later  development,  he  re- 
ceived from  a  book,  "Significance  of  Seg- 
mentation in  the  Organic  World"  (Stock- 
holm, 1890).  Here  he  was  brought  to 
serious  consideration  of  the  nature  of 


PREFACE.  XV 

the  cell  and  of  its  place  in  life.  In  the 
organization  of  the  cells  in  a  human 
body  Bjorklund  saw  an  example  of  a 
universal  law,  governing  all  life.  With 
this  thought  as  a  starting  point,  he  un- 
dertook to  investigate  the  problem,  all- 
important  to  his  philosophy,  of  the 
awakening  of  self-consciousness  in  a 
cell-organization  and  the  relationship 
between  this  newborn  ego  and  the  cells 
themselves,  each  of  which,  to  a  certain 
degree,  leads  an  independent  life. 

The  result  of  his  studies  was  first 
made  known  in  1894  in  a  treatise,  "The 
Relation  Between  Soul  and  Body  from 
a  Cytologic  Point  of  View."  In  the  year 
1900,  he  published  the  volume  herewith 
presented  to  the  American  public,  in 
which  he  has  partly  rewritten  the  for- 
mer book,  and  further  added  his  latest 
conceptions  of  the  nature  and  evolution 
of  life. 

This  work  is  undoubtedly  one  of  Swe- 
den's most  remarkable  and  interesting 
contributions  to  contemporary  philoso- 
phy.   It  is  also  the  last  work  from  Gus- 


xvl PREFACE. 

taf  Bjorklimd's  hand.  In  July,  1903,  his 
earthly  existence  was  brought  to  an 
end,  and  he  was  "fully  translated"  to 
that  spiritual  world,  the  existence  of 
which  he  was  so  thoroughly  convinced 


It  is  true  that  the  philosophical  struc- 
ture that  Bjorklund  so  successfully  com- 
menced to  upbuild  is  far  from  complete. 
But  the  basis  he  laid  is  solid  and  will 
serve  as  a  foundation  for  many  temples 
of  the  future,  whether  they  who  worship 
therein  believe  in  Bjorklund's  God  or 
not. 

This  foundation  is  the  fact  over- 
whelmingly proved  by  Bjorklund,  that 
life  is  not  a  quality  in  matter  or  phys- 
ical force,  but  must  be  of  immaterial  or- 
igin and  substance.  Granting  that  time 
as  well  as  space  are  forms  in  which  mat- 
ter and  physical  force  are  comprehend- 
ed by  man  on  his  earthly  stage  of  con- 
sciousness, Bjorklund  has  also  demon- 
strated the  immortality  of  life.  For  if 
life  be  a  reality,  which  is  not  here  de- 
nied, with  no  roots  in  matter  or  physical 


PREFACE.  xvii 

force,  whether  these  are  identical  or  not, 
this  reality  exists  outside  of  the  forms, 
time  and  space,  in  which  matter  ap- 
pears. But  whether  matter  and  phys- 
ical force  exist  per  se,  or  are  mere  tran- 
sient phenomena  or  what  their  origin 
and  purpose  is,  these  are  questions  that 
Bjorklund  never  was  granted  the  time 
to  discuss. 

Bjorklund's  grand  conception  of  the 
relationship  between  all  living  beings 
and  their  organic  upbuilding  of  larger 
conscious  units,  where  each  individual 
of  higher  order  is  the  sum  total  of  all 
its  constituent  members  of  lower  or- 
der, is  certainly  a  most  helpful  and 
inspiring  addition  to  our  theory  of 
evolution. 

But  the  question  why  an  evolution  is 
necessary  at  all  for  beings  that  are  con- 
stituent members  in  The  Perfect  Being, 
is  hardly  satisfactorily  answered  by 
Bjorklund.  His  ingenious  explanation, 
fully  presented  toward  the  end  of  this 
volume,  still  leaves  us  in  a  dilemma. 
Bjorklund  holds  that  Perfect  Love  has 


xviii  PREFACE. 

left  it  to  time-existent  beings  to  become 
of  Free  Will  what  they  of  eternity  have 
been  to  the  All-Spirit;  much  as  a  child, 
unless  considered  merely  a  mechan- 
ical toy,  must  of  free  will,  grow  into 
the  man  that  his  father  preconceived 
and  all  the  time  sees  in  it.  But 
even  so  we  are  left  between  Scylla 
and  Charybdis,  for  either  this  evolu- 
tion has  a  purpose,  which  must  be 
reached  outside  of  time — that  is,  it  will 
come  to  a  standstill;  an  ending  in 
Nirvana — or  else  evolution  is  ever- 
lasting, without  final  purpose,  and  its 
proper  name — delusion.  Again  the 
time-bound  mind  meets  in  this,  as 
well  as  in  every  ethical  or  metaphysical 
problem,  if  it  be  pushed  to  its  ultimate 
consequences,  the  same  conflict  or  irra- 
tionality that  is  destined  to  baffle  the 
space-bound  man,  whether  his  micro- 
scope is  restlessly  at  work  to  solve  the 
riddle  of  the  divisibility  of  matter,  or 
his  telescope  sweeps  the  heavens  in  a 
vain  search  for  the  utmost  star.  This 
irrationality,  that  everywhere  surrounds 


PREFACE.  xlx 

US,  is  a  chasm  that  only  religion  can 
bridge.  From  a  philosophical  point  of 
view,  therefore,  we  must  be  satisfied  if 
our  workable  hypotheses  in  philosophy 
and  in  natural  science  do  not  contradict 
each  other;  and  Gustaf  Bjorklund  has 
shown  us  a  road  to  reconciliation  be- 
tween idealism  and  natural  science,  that 
for  a  long  time  seemed  entirely  lost  in 
the  jungle  of  the  materialism  of  the  last 
century.  j^  ^^  FRIES. 


TABLE  OF   CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Old  Coxceptions  of  a  Future  Life 1 

Max's    Spiritual    Body 26 

Source  op   Spiritual  Kxowledge 37 

Importance  of  Spoxtaneous  Gexeratiox 51 

Materialistic     Demonstratiox     of      Spontaneous 

Generation    67 

How  Is  Orgaxic  Matter  Produced? 87 

Orgaxic  Matter  as  a  Product  of  Art 107 

The  Soul  axd  the  Cells 124 

Fundamental  Qualities  of  an  Organism 138 

Organic  Relatioxship  Betweex  the  Soul  and  the 

Cells     147 

Resurrection    166 

Man    and    Ixfixity 174 

Recapitulatiox    188 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 


All  are  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole. 
Whose  body  Nature  is,   and  God  the  soul; 


All  Nature  is  but  Art,  unknown  to  thee; 

All  Chance,  Direction,  which  thou  canst  not  see; 


And  spite  of  Pride,  in  erring  Reason's  spite, 
One  truth  is  clear,  Whatever  is  is  Right. 

— Alex.  Pope. 
Essay  on  Man,  Epistle  I. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Old  Conceptions  of  a  Future  Life. 

A  CONSCIOUSNESS  of  immortality, 
sometimes  dim  and  vague,  some- 
times vivid  and  clear,  seems  to  be  char- 
acteristic of  the  human  race.  However 
low  man  may  stand  he  cannot  consider 
death  to  be  the  end  of  his  existence. 
The  conviction  that  he  is  immortal  is 
innate  to  him.  Annihilation  is  con- 
trary to  the  nature  and  demands  of 
his  spirit.  It  is  true  that  uncertainty 
and  doubt  might  arise,  but  man  will 
never  be  able  wholly  to  uproot  either 
hope  or  fear  as  to  the  possibility  of  a 
future  life. 

Experiencing  such  feelings  and  pre- 
sentiments, man  finds  himself  amidst  a 
world  where  death  and  dissolution  ev- 
erywhere surround  him.     He  sees  the 


2  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

objects  of  his  love  or  fear  pass  away, 
and  he  knows  that  sooner  or  later  the 
same  fate  will  befall  himself.  When  he 
beholds  the  lifeless  body  of  some  near 
relative,  his  presentiment  of  immortal- 
ity tells  him  that  the  selfsame  soul 
that  once  animated  that  body  is  still 
alive.  In  such  moments  even  the  man 
of  low  cultivation  is  forced  into  more 
or  less  profound  contemplation.  The 
following  reflection  impresses  itself 
with  might  and  wonder  upon  him:  "I 
feel  convinced  that  the  dead  is  living, 
but  how  can  he  live  without  his  body 
and  what  form  does  his  new  life  take?" 

In  all  ages  and  stages,  men  have 
asked  the  same  or  similar  questions, 
and  they  will  go  on  asking  them  as 
long  as  belief  in  a  future  life  obtains. 

But  man  does  not  confine  himself  to 
questioning,  he  wants  answers,  and  es- 
pecially must  this  be  true  where  the  re- 
ply is  so  intimately  connected  with 
himself.  And  these  answers  have  not 
been  lacking;  we  find  them  formulated 
in  those  opinions  and  theories  respect- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 


ing  a  future  life  which  throughout  the 
ages  have  gradually  appeared  and  pre- 
vailed. 

The  critically  thinking  public  of  the 
present  day  takes  a  decidedly  skeptical 
attitude  toward  all  these  theories.  They 
assert,  and  not  without  strong  argu- 
ments, that  it  is  impossible  to  know 
anything.  But,  however  convinced  the 
public  may  be  of  the  fruitlessness  of 
discussing  the  topic,  no  one  will  suc- 
ceed in  pushing  it  entirely  aside.  Time 
and  again  the  same  questions  reappear 
as  dark  and  threatening  clouds  on  the 
horizon  of  our  consciousness;  they  oc- 
cupy our  thoughts,  take  hold  upon  our 
feelings  and  color  our  sentiments.  It 
would  undoubtedly  be  suflacient  at  such 
moments  to  have,  were  it  only  one 
fixed  point  to  stand  upon;  one  estab- 
lished fact  to  start  from  and  which  we 
could  trust  would  lead  our  thoughts 
in  the  right  direction.  But  such  a 
basis  to  set  out  from  we  have  not 
hitherto  been  able  to  find.  Will  this 
remain  the  case  forever?    Will  science 


4  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

couceriiing  a  future  life  always  fall  to 
attain  aught  but  negative  results?  Let 
us  say  at  once  that  humanity  will 
probably  be  able  to  ascertain  as  much 
as  it  may  be  necessary  or  useful  for  us 
to  know  in  this  world.  This  hope  is 
founded  on  our  firm  belief  that  at  this 
time  a  basis  such  as  that  above  men- 
tioned really  exists.  Natural  science 
has  furnished  this  basis,  though  no- 
body as  yet  has  happened  to  reflect 
that  the  facts  upon  w^hich  this  basis 
rests  may  have  any  bearing  upon  our 
attitude  toward  a  future  life,  much  less 
give  answer  to  questions  such  as  the 
following:  How,  and  in  what  way,  is 
man  to  pass  from  this  life  into  another? 

It  will  be  the  object  of  the  following 
pages,  then,  to  develop  further  the  view 
just  intimated. 

In  prehistoric  times  men  believed  in 
a  close  relationship  between  the  soul  of 
the  deceased  and  his  body  in  the  grave, 
and  this  purely  instinctive  faith  is  the 
more  remarkable,  as  it  prevailed  during 
stages  of  civilization  when  differentia- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 


tion    between    spiritual    qualities    and 
physical  matter  was  almost  unknown. 

The  contradistinction  between  soul 
and  body  is  certainly  a  fact,  a  general 
experience.  But  neither  the  individual 
nor  the  race  realizes  this  fact  suddenly 
or  all  at  once.  The  knowledge  of  the 
distinction  between  the  physical  and 
the  spiritual  sphere,  with  their  differ- 
ent characteristics  and  qualities,  pro- 
ceeds step  by  step,  being  the  result  of 
slowly  advancing  evolution. 

The  child  and  the  savage  remain  un- 
conscious of  any  discrimination  be- 
tween soul  and  body,  and  even  for  the 
more  cultivated  man,  the  border  be- 
tween the  two  is  vague  and  undeter- 
mined. According  to  the  psychologic 
order  of  man's  evolution  we  might 
therefore  expect  that  the  problem  as 
to  this  relationship  would  appear  at  a 
comparatively  late  date,  and  even  then 
be  of  importance  only  to  a  reduced 
number  of  more  cultivated  individuals. 
But,  on  the  contrary,  experience  shows 
that  this  question  occupies  the  thoughts 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 


of  men  in  very  low  stages  of  civiliza- 
tion, and,  in  fact,  that  it  is  of  the  most 
general  interest. 

The  reason  for  this  evidently  lies  in 
the  instinctive  belief  that  the  body  con- 
tains something  which  is  immortal,  and 
which  in  the  life  hereafter  the  soul  can- 
not dispense  with. 

In  its  first  historic  form  the  ques- 
tion concerning  the  soul's  relation  to 
the  body  deals  with  this  relation  after, 
not  before,  the  separation  of  the  soul 
and  body.  This  latter  problem  emerges 
only  in  very  high  stages  of  civilization, 
and  even  then  is  of  scientific  interest 
to  an  insignificant  minority  only,  while 
the  question  of  our  existence  after 
death  is  religious  in  its  nature  and  of 
interest  to  all. 

In  olden  times  men  were  more  fully 
convinced  of  a  continued  personal  ex- 
istence after  death  than  civilized  man- 
kind seems  to  be  nowadays.  The  same 
vivid  conviction  we  find  even  in  our 
age  among  people  in  the  natural  state. 
From  the  prehistoric  peoples  we  have 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  7 

no  written  communication,  but  from 
their  graves  they  speak  to  the  present 
day  intelligibly  and  plainly  of  their  be- 
lief in  a  life  to  come.  Behold  the  mon- 
uments defying  time  and  decay,  which 
these  people  have  erected  in  memory  of 
their  deceased.  The  sepulchres  of  the 
Egyptian  kings  to  this  very  day  arouse 
our  amazement  and  admiration. 

What  was  it,  then,  that  induced 
these  peoples  of  early  times  to  bestow 
such  extraordinary  labor  on  the  places 
of  their  last  rest?  It  certainly  was 
their  belief  that  the  graves  contained 
not  only  the  lifeless  body,  but  also  the 
living  soul.  The  funeral  ceremonies 
evidently  show,  as  Fustel  de  Coulanges 
says,  that  when  the  body  was  laid  in 
the  grave  it  was  thought  that  some- 
thing yet  alive  was  placed  there  at  the 
same  time.  The  soul  was  born  simul- 
taneously with  the  body;  death  did  not 
separate  them;  they  were  both  enclosed 
together  in  the  grave.  In  olden  times 
people  felt  so  fully  assured  that  a  man 
lived    in    the    tomb,    that    they    never 


8  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

failed  to  bur}^  with  him  the  things  of 
which  he  was  thought  to  be  in  want. 
They  poured  wine  on  the  grave  in  or- 
der to  quench  his  thirst;  they  brought 
food  to  his  tomb  in  order  to  appease  his 
hunger;  they  killed  horses  and  slaves, 
believing  that,  if  enclosed  with  the 
dead,  these  would  serve  him  in  his 
grave  as  they  had  served  him  during 
his  life. 

It  was  also  in  this  conviction  that 
the  positive  duty  of  burying  the  de- 
ceased originated.  In  order  to  bring 
rest  to  the  soul  in  the  subterranean 
dwelling  that  fitted  its  new  existence, 
it  was  necessary  that  the  body,  to 
which,  in  some  way  or  another,  it  still 
clung,  should  be  covered  with  earth. 
The  soul,  denied  a  grave,  had  no  dwell- 
ing. Drifting  about,  it  sought  in  vain 
the  desired  rest  after  life's  fitful  strug- 
gle. Without  shelter,  without  offerings 
or  food,  it  was  condemned  to  everlast- 
ing wandering.  Therefore,  because  the 
deceased  was  unhappyj  he  became  ill- 
natured.    He  tormented  the  living;  sent 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  9 

them  diseases;  destroyed  their  har- 
vests ;  haunted  them  in  uncanny  visions 
in  order  to  remind  them  of  their  duty 
to  bury  the  body  and  thereby  secure 
peace  for  himself. 

The  old  authors  give  evidence  of  the 
degree  to  which  people  were  vexed  by 
fear  that  proper  ceremonies  would  not 
be  observed  at  their  burial.  It  was  a 
constant  source  of  grievous  irritation. 
The  fear  of  death  was  less  prevalent 
than  the  fear  of  being  left  unburied. 
Naturally  so,  for  it  was  a  question  of 
eternal  happiness.  It  should  therefore 
not  surprise  us  so  much  when  we  see 
the  Athenians  execute  generals,  who, 
after  a  naval  victory,  had  neglected  to 
bury  the  fallen.  These  generals,  dis- 
ciples of  the  philosophers  of  their  time, 
did  not  believe  that  the  fate  of  the  soul 
was  dependent  on  that  of  the  body. 
They  had  therefore  decided  not  to  chah 
lenge  the  tempest  for  the  empty  for- 
mality of  gathering  and  burying  the 
fallen.  But  the  masses,  even  in  en- 
lightened Athens,  still  clung  to  the  old 


10  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

conceptions,  and  accused  the  generals 
of  godlessness,  sentencing  them  to 
death.  By  their  victory  they  had  saved 
Athens,  but  by  their  negligence  they 
had  brought  perdition  upon  thousands 
of  souls.  "These  conceptions,"  says 
Fustel  de  Coulanges,  "have  governed 
man  and  society  through  many  genera- 
tions, and  have  been  the  source  from 
which  the  larger  part  of  ancient  do- 
mestic and  public  institutions  were  de- 
rived." 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  primitive 
ideas,  referred  to  above,  obtain  even 
today  among  various  nations  and  tribes 
all  over  the  earth.  From  the  islands 
in  the  Pacific  Ocean  all  the  way  up  to 
the  Polar  regions  we  meet  with  the 
same  creeds  among  uncivilized  peoples, 
the  same  or  similar  manner  of  burial 
as  among  the  ancients. 

If  we  were  going  to  illustrate  this, 
the  Chinese  probably  would  be  the  first 
to  attract  our  attention,  not  only  be- 
cause of  the  antiquity  of  their  civiliza- 
tion, but  because  of  their  great  num- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  H 

bers.  As  is  well  known,  a  third  part  of 
the  world's  population  is  Chinese. 
Most  of  the  characteristic  peculiarities 
of  this  enormous  community  must  be 
attributed  to  their  death-cultus. 

Every  family  in  China  lives  in  con- 
tinuous communication  with  its  an- 
cestors, upon  whom  are  bestowed  offer- 
ings of  fruit,  grain,  rice  or  vegetables, 
according  to  the  iDroducts  of  the  soil 
of  their  home.  The  soul  will  lose  none 
of  its  qualities  through  the  separation 
from  the  body.  In  company  with  other 
souls  of  their  kindred  it  hovers  over 
the  family,  partakes  of  their  sufferings, 
rejoices  in  their  happiness.  If  forgot- 
ten, it  grows  melancholy  and  ill-na- 
tured, it  complains  in  doleful  voice  and 
its  moans  are  ominous.  Woe  unto  him 
who  ignores  these  obligations.  The  of- 
ferings to  the  souls  of  his  forefathers 
must  not  be  neglected.  Their  memory 
must  not  be  allowed  to  fade  away.  But 
who  is  going  to  attend  to  these  sacri- 
fices and  memorial  observances  if  the 
family  dies  out?    Matrimony,  therefore. 


12  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

becomt^s  a  sacred  duty,  the  foremost  of 
all  duties. 

To  the  Chinese  mind  there  is  no 
grievauce  greater,  no  punishment  more 
terrible,  than  expulsion  from  the  fam- 
ily. What  would  become  of  a  man's 
soul  if  his  nearest  of  kin  would  curse 
his  memory?  To  rid  himself  of  such 
a  sickening  dream  he  is  ready  to  sacri- 
fice everything,  even  life  itself.  But 
only  when  the  body  is  brought  to  rest 
in  the  family  grave  can  the  soul  enjoy 
the  care  of  its  kindred.  It  is  obvious, 
then,  that  emigration  is  looked  upon 
with  great  apprehension  by  the  faith- 
ful Chinaman.  He  must  either  return 
home  during  his  life  or  else  arrange 
that  his  body  be  brought  back  if  death 
should  overtake  him  while  abroad.  We 
know  that  the  big  transoceanic  steam- 
ship companies  faithfully  carry  out  this 
part  of  their  contracts  with  those  of 
their  Chinese  passengers  who  meet 
with  unexpected  death  in  America. 

Similar  ideas  are  to  be  found  among 
the   negroes   of   Africa   and    Australia, 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  13 


and  among  the  Indian  tribes  of  Amer- 
ica. These  also  supply  their  deceased 
with  such  tools  and  provisions  as  they 
are  supposed  to  need  in  another  world. 

Among  the  Arctic  peoples  the  same 
customs  and  usages  prevail.  When  an 
Eskimo  is  about  to  die,  he  is  dressed  in 
his  best  clothes  and  his  knees  are 
drawn  up  under  him.  The  grave  is 
lined  inside  with  moss  and  a  skin,  over 
which  stones  and  peat  are  spread.  If 
the  dead  is  a  man,  his  boat,  weapons 
and  tools  are  laid  beside  the  grave; 
if  a  woman,  her  knife  and  sewing  uten- 
sils; if  it  is  a  child,  the  head  of  a  dog 
is  placed  on  top  of  the  grave,  that  the 
soul  of  the  dog  may  show  the  helpless 
child  a  road  to  the  second  life.  If  a 
mother  dies  while  nursing  a  babe,  it 
is,  as  a  rule,  buried  alive  with  her. 

In  a  Samoyede  grave,  Nordenskold 
found  among  other  things  parts  of  an 
iron  pot,  an  ax,  a  knife,  a  drill,  a  bow, 
a  wooden  arrow,  some  copper  orna- 
ments, etc.  Even  rolls  of  birch  bark 
were  found  in  the  coflBn,  in  all  proba- 


14  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

bility  to  be  used  for  making  fire  in  an- 
other world.  Beside  the  grave  a  sleigh 
was  placed  upside  down,  evidently  in 
order  to  provide  a  vehicle  for  the  de- 
ceased, and  we  may  assume  that  rein- 
deers were  slaughtered  at  the  funeral. 

The  essential,  fundamental  thought 
in  this  conception  which  causes  the  un- 
cultivated peoples  in  our  days  to  treat 
their  deceased  in  the  same  way  as  the 
ancients  did,  is  the  belief  that  the  body 
contains  something  which  the  soul  can- 
not do  without  in  the  future  life.  Soul 
and  body  are  and  remain  a  unit  even 
beyond  the  grave.  As  death  means  a 
violent  tearing  apart  of  these  two  fac- 
tors, the  soul  cannot  be  wholly  satis- 
fied without  its  natural  relationship  to 
the  body. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  to  the 
ancient  world  life  in  the  lower  regions 
seemed  dismal  and  repulsive.  Achilles 
would  rather  be  a  day-laborer  on  earth 
than  king  of  the  hosts  in  Hades.  Life 
there  passed  in  a  shadowy  inactivity 
amidst  all  wealth,  a  desolate  emptiness 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  15 

in  all  superfluity,  so  that  the  soul  could 
not  help  but  suffer  a  ceaseless  regret 
whether  it  moved  in  the  halls  of  Val- 
halla or  in  the  Elysian  fields.  Glori- 
ous meadows,  crystal  waters,  streams 
of  milk  and  honey,  could  not  obliterate 
the  craving  of  the  soul  for  its  corporeal 
existence.  It  returns  time  and  again 
to  the  body  in  the  grave  to  enjoy  the 
sacrifices  and  cares  of  the  surviving;. 
This  mourning  for  the  body  and  con- 
tinuous longing  for  the  sunny  life  on 
earth,  made  death  seem  something  ter- 
rible that  fretted  and  tormented  men. 
Was  it  not  natural,  then,  that  the  men- 
tal disharmony  caused  by  the  thought 
of  death,  should  sooner  or  later  bring 
about  a  reaction;  give  birth  to  the  hope 
of  a  reunion  of  the  soul  with  the  body 
on  a  resurrection  day  of  the  dead?  At 
some  such  conclusion  several  religions 
have  arrived.  We  need  mention  only 
the  Norse  sagas,  Islam,  Parseeism  and 
Judaism.  A  resurrection,  everywhere 
taught  in  almost  identical  terms,  is 
placed  at  the  end  of  the  present  system 


16  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

of  the  world  in  connection  with  a  cos- 
mic catastrophe  out  of  which  new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth  with  an  en- 
nobled  humanity  will   emerge. 

The  bodily  resurrection  on  the  day  of 
judgment  is  a  doctrine  also  in  the 
Christian  faith,  as  it  is  interpreted  by 
the  orthodox  creeds.  But  this  dogma 
has  entirely  lost  its  former  authority. 
It  is  repeated  at  each  Church  burial, 
but  the  reading  has  now  become  a 
mere  formality.  We  do  not  believe  any 
more  in  a  resurrection  in  the  old  sense. 

What  factor  in  our  time  has  been 
sufficiently  powerful  to  overturn  con- 
ceptions so  deeply  rooted  in  human 
nature?  It  is  the  scientific  spirit  as 
acknowledged  even  by  faithful  theo- 
logians. Science  has  shown  that  man's 
body  is  renewed  several  times  during 
life  and  that  even  the  bones,  placed  in 
the  grave,  soon  "arise"  through  na- 
ture's forces  themselves  and  take  part 
again  in  the  universal  circulation  of 
matter.  In  face  of  all  the  evidence  for 
this  truth,   it   is  impossible  to  believe 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  17 

in  the  old  doctrine  of  a  physical  resur- 
rection. 

Another  question  is,  whether  this 
ancient  belief  could  disappear  without 
leaving  traces  in  contemporary  con- 
sciousness. Can  man  have  changed  so 
radically  in  a  century,  or  rather  in  a 
few  decades,  that  the  conviction  of  the 
body's  importance  to  the  soul  after 
death  will  no  longer  find  an  echo  in 
his  religious  instincts?  By  no  means. 
We  are  the  same  human  beings  and 
have  the  same  human  nature  as  our 
forefathers.  Forms  of  conception  may 
go,  but  not  the  instincts  to  which  they 
once  gave  a  satisfactory  expression. 

We  may  therefore  rest  assured  that 
the  important  change  of  attitude  in 
this  question  forcefully  reacts  on  re- 
ligious life  in  our  day.  The  reaction 
does  not  necessarily  mean  progress  at 
first.  Evolution  does  not  follow  a 
straight  line;  a  step  forward  is  gener- 
ally immediately  followed  b}'^  phenom- 
ena in  the  opposite  direction. 

The    religious    instincts,     underlying 


18  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

the  conception  of  the  body's  impor- 
tance to  the  soul  in  a  future  life,  must 
create  new  expressions,  and  the  logic 
of  the  old  conceptions  themselves  in- 
dicates what  forms  they  would  take. 

When  the  belief  in  a  restoration  of 
the  union  between  the  two  factors  in 
a  human  being  was  suddenly  and  al- 
most violently  shaken  by  natural  sci- 
ence, there  seemed  at  tirst  no  other 
way  out  of  the  difficulty  than  to  choose 
between  them  and  declare  either  the 
soul  or  the  body  as  the  essential  part. 

Those  who  felt  inclined  toward  the 
former  alternative  evidently  found 
themselves  confined  to  a  one-sided 
idealism  of  little  vitality,  because  an 
existence  without  body  seems  as 
shadowy  and  unsatisfactory  to  man  in 
the  present  as  in  ancient  times.  An 
increasing  weakening  of  the  intensity 
of  religious  life  would  be  the  natural 
consequence. 

Those  again  who,  because  of  a  more 
realistic  tendency,  insisted  upon  the  es- 
sentiality  of  our  body,   were  logically 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  19 

driven  to  a  gross  materialism.  If  sci- 
ence had  proved  that  the  belief  in  a 
bodily  resurrection  is  untenable,  why 
should  it  not  be  able  to  demonstrate 
that  all  religious  doctrines  were  delu- 
sions? This  reasoning  seemed  to  many 
so  natural  that  many  scientific  facts 
contributed  evidence  in  their  favor 
even  when  these  facts  pointed  entirely 
in  the  opposite  direction. 

There  was,  however,  no  necessity  to 
think  and  reason  as  these  two  main 
schools  in  our  age  have  done.  One 
might  also  from  the  beginning,  have 
taken  the  same  road  and  arrived  at  the 
same  conclusion  as,  for  instance.  Gran- 
felt  in  his  "Christian  Dogmatic."  "It 
has  been  demonstrated  beyond  doubt 
by  natural  science,"  says  this  prominent 
theologian,  "that  the  matter  of  a  human 
body  is,  even  here  on  earth,  in  continu- 
ous circulation,  so  that  in  the  course  of 
a  few  weeks  all  atoms  of  the  whole 
body  are  replaced  by  new  atoms.  The 
only  lasting  attribute  of  the  soul  dur- 
ing this  process  is  the  spiritual  body. 


20  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

which  assimilates,  typically  forms,  and 
again  secretes  the  earthly  matter.  It 
must  be  this  spiritual  body,  then,  that 
constitutes  the  combining  element  be- 
tween man's  earthly  body  and  his  glori- 
fied body  in  the  eternal  life." 

Christianity  speaks  not  only  of  a  ma- 
terial resurrection  on  the  day  of  judg- 
ment; it  also  says  that  man  possesses 
within  him  a  spiritual  body,  which 
after  death  immediately  arises  to  ever- 
lasting life.  This  latter  conception  is 
not  confined  to  Christianity.  In  all  re- 
ligions we  find  two  tendencies  side  by 
side,  the  one  idealistic  and  the  other 
more  realistic,  which  indeed  are  not 
really  opposed  to  each  other,  inasmuch 
as  the  belief  in  a  spiritual  body  may 
be  said  to  constitute  the  basis  even  for 
the  realistic  conception  that  places  the 
spirit  in  co-relation  with  the  body  in 
the  grave. 

The  idealistic  tendency  may  be  traced 
away  back  even  to  prehistoric  times 
and  has  generally  been  connected  with 
some     other     burial     methods,     among 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  21 

which  cremation  was  the  most  com- 
mon. The  place  cremation  occupied  in 
ancient  thought  and  the  connection 
fancied  by  our  forefathers  between  the 
elements  which  make  up  man's  spirit- 
ual body,  may  be  gathered  from  Victor 
Rydberg's  researches  in  Germanic 
mvthologv. 

"The  popular  ecclesiastical  dualism 
of  soul  and  body,"  says  Kydberg,  "was 
as  foreign  to  the  Veda-Aryans  as  to 
the  heathen  Germanic  race.  Accord- 
ing to  the  latter,  man  consisted  of  six 
different  elements:  First,  the  earthly 
element  of  which  the  visible  body  is 
made;  second,  a  vegetative;  third,  an 
animal;  fourth,  the  so-calle*'^  Utcn  (litr), 
an  inner  body  shaped  after  the  gods, 
and  invisible  to  earthly  eyes;  fifth,  the 
soul;   sixth,   the   spirit." 

The  earthly  and  the  vegetative  ele- 
ments were  already  joined  in  the  trees. 
Ask  and  Embla,  when  the  gods  came 
and  changed  them  into  the  first  human 
pair.  Each  of  the  three  gods  gave  them 
separate   gifts.     From    Lodur   they   re- 


22  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

ceived  la,  that  is  the  blood,  and  laeti, 
that  is  the  power  of  intentional  move- 
ment inherent  in  the  blood,  which  at- 
tributes have  been  considered  by  all 
peoples  as  the  characteristics  that  dis- 
tinguish animal  from  vegetable  life. 
Lodur  gave  them  further  the  god-image, 
liter  godUy  by  the  power  of  which  man's 
earthly  substance  receives  the  form  in 
which  it  appears  to  the  senses.  The 
Germanic  race,  like  the  Hellenes  and 
the  Eomans,  believed  that  the  gods  had 
human  form,  so  that  this  form  origi- 
nally belonged  to  the  gods.  To  the 
Germanic  hierologists  and  bards  man 
was  formed  in  efjigicm  dconim  and  pos- 
sessed in  his  nature  a  liter  goda,  a  god 
image  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  word. 

This  image  may  for  a  short  time  be 
separated  from  the  other  human  ele- 
ments, so  that  a  person  may  assume 
the  appearance  of  another  without 
changing  his  spiritual  identity. 

The  soul,  odr,  is  the  gift  of  Honer, 
while  the  spirit,  and,  is  the  contribu- 
tion of  Odin. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  23 

Earthly  death  consists  in  the  separa- 
tion of  the  higher  elements,  spirit,  soul 
and  liten,  which  form  a  unity  for  them- 
selves, from  the  lower  elements  and  a 
removal  of  the  former  to  Hades.  The 
lower  elements,  the  earthly,  the  vege- 
tal and  the  animal,  continue  in  the 
grave  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  to 
co-operate  and  form  a  certain  unity, 
which,  from  the  higher  elements,  retain 
something  of  the  living  man's  personal- 
ity and  qualities.  This  lower  unity  is 
the  ghost,  the  wraith,  which  usually 
sleeps  during  the  day  in  the  grave,  but 
in  the  night  might  wake  either  spon- 
taneously or  by  other  people's  prayers 
and  sorcery.  The  ghost  possesses  the 
nature  of  the  deceased;  it  is  good  and 
benevolent,  or  evil  and  dangerous,  ac- 
cording to  his  disposition.  Because 
animal  and  vegetal  elements  form  part 
of  his  nature,  he  is  tormented  by  a 
craving  for  nourishment  if  he  wakes 
from  his  slumber. 

These  conceptions  of  a  dualistic  life 
after  death,  common  among  the  Veda- 


24  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

Aryans,  as  well  as  among  the  heathen 
Norsemen,  were  closely  allied  with  the 
idea  of  cremation.  Agni,  the  god  of 
fire,  removed  the  dead  man  to  a  better 
world,  while  the  coarser  body,  with  its 
faults  and  defects,  was  consumed  by 
the  flames. 

It  was  a  matter  of  doubt,  however, 
whether  liten,  the  inner  body,  would 
suffer  injury  in  the  pyre.  But  this 
doubt  was  removed  partly  by  certain 
formulas,  believed  to  be  protective; 
partly  by  burning  a  buck  together  with 
the  body  as  compensation  to  the  "flesh- 
eating  fire,''  the  elementary  Agni  (the 
liymns  distinguish  betw^een  the  two), 
so  that  he  should  not  touch  the  subtler 
body  of  the  corpse.  Through  the  com- 
bustion, the  lower  elements  were  en- 
abled to  immediately  follow  the  soul  of 
the  deceased,  and  it  was  thought  that 
two  advantages  were  gained  thereby: 
First,  the  second  ego  of  the  dead  was 
liberated  from  its  grave-dwelling,  which 
was  monstrous  if  his  sleep  were  dis- 
turbed  either  bv   craving  for  nourish- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  25 

ment  or  through  the  acts  of  Nirrtis  and 
sorcerers;  second,  the  surviving  were 
relieved  from  their  dread  of  evil  ghosts. 


CHAPTER  II. 
Man's  Spiritual  Body. 

IF  WE  survey  the  stages  of  evolution 
through  which  humanity  hitherto  has 
passed,  we  find  that  all  peoples,  from 
prehistoric  times  up  to  our  own  days, 
have  believed  in  a  spiritual  body  which 
is  essential  to  the  soul  in  a  future  life. 
Is  humanity  then  mistaken  in  this  uni- 
versal manifestation  of  religious  intui- 
tion? On  this  question  we  need  no 
longer  remain  uncertain,  no  longer  be- 
lieve; we  know  that  man  possesses  such 
a  spiritual  body.  For  many  years,  even 
centuries,  this  has  been  a  fully  demon- 
strated fact,  which  may  be  directly  ob- 
served, and  which  also  has  been  the 
subject  of  scientific  research. 

But  what  do  we  mean  by  spiritual 
body?     The  term  conveys  something  of 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  27 


a  dim  and  vague,  and  at  the  same 
time  unmistakable  suggestion  which 
characterizes  all  we  comprehend  by  our 
emotional  faculties.  Spiritual  body 
means  what  the  words  say,  a  spiritual- 
ity derived  from,  or  belonging  to,  the 
body.  But  as  no  spirituality  exists 
which  is  not  individualized  or  is  not  a 
quality  of  a  living  being,  this  spiritual 
body  must  be  identical  with  either  one 
single  unit  or  with  a  multitude  of 
living  units.  One  single  unit  it  cannot 
be,  because  this  unity  would  then  be 
identical  with  the  soul,  while  on  the 
contrary,  the  spiritual  body  should 
be  independent,  existing  per  se.  It 
remains  then  a  multitude  of  spirit- 
ual units,  which  is  precisely  what 
natural  science  has  proved  to  be  the 
case,  and  these  vnits  in  man^s  spiritual 
body  are  identical  with  the  living  cells. 

Before  the  discovery  of  the  cell,  our 
knowledge  of  the  human  body  was  con- 
fined to  such  phenomena  as  could  be 
observed  with  the  naked  eye.  The  or- 
ganism from  that  standpoint  was  neces- 


28  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

sarilj  a  unit  of  members  and  organs 
whose  functions,  and  even  coarser  ana- 
tomic structure,  were  beyond  any  ac- 
curate investigation.  The  elementary 
parts  of  the  organic  tissues  cannot,  of 
rourse,  be  observed  in  this  stage.  They 
jippear  first  under  the  microscope  and 
it  is  therefore  witli  the  discovery  of 
this  epoch-making  instrument  that  the 
science  of  organisms  enters  into  a  new 
era. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  Malpighi  and  Grew  found  that 
organic  tissues,  placed  under  the  micro- 
scope, did  not  consist  of  homogeneous 
substance  as  they  appear  to  the  naked 
eye,  but  of  small  particles  separated 
from  each  other,  which  particles  have 
been  called  cells.  But  although  the 
cells  were  discovered,  their  real  inapor- 
tance  was  far  from  being  understood, 
or  even  surmised.  This  was  no  doubt 
the  reason  for  the  small  interest  given 
to  the  cell  during  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, and  the  small  progress  cytology 
made  during  this  whole  period. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  29 

From  1670  to  1830,  or  more  than  a 
century  and  a  half,  the  cell  was  known 
mainly  as  a  saccate  body,  resembling  a 
hollow  tube,  and  became  the  subject 
of  more  or  less  wild  speculations.  A 
wider  interest  for  the  substance  and 
nature  of  the  cell  was  evoked  in  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  by 
the  works  of  Brisseau  de  Mirbel,  Trevir- 
anus,  Moldenhaver  and  several  others. 
Many  different  parts  began  to  be  dis- 
tinguished within  the  cells,  such  as 
membrane,  protoplasm,  chlorophyll,  etc. 
These  parts  were  later  found  to  be  as 
many  organs  in  the  cell  performing- 
different  functions,  which  are  at  pres- 
ent to  some  extent  defined.  The  cell 
previously  considered  as  a  saccate  body 
proved  to  constitute  a  being  endowed 
with  organs,  a  living  organism. 

According  to  modern  cytology,  the 
cell  is  a  living  individual;  an  elemen- 
tary organism.  Although  these  beings 
are  so  exceedingly  minute  that  the 
naked  eye  can  observe  them  only  in 
combinations  of  thousands  and  millions, 


»0  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

yet  each  and  every  one  of  them  not 
only  possesses  individual  life,  but  also 
the  organs  necessary  for  sustaining  in- 
dividual existence.  Innumerable  quan- 
tities of  such  tiny  beings  build  up  the 
organisms  of  plants  and  animals.  As 
human  individuals  form  the  building 
material  of  the  body  of  a  community, 
so  the  cells  form  the  building  material 
of  the  bodies  of  plants  and  animals. 
Since  the  cells  bear  the  same  relation 
to  plants  and  animals  as  human  in- 
dividuals to  a  community,  every  plant 
and  animal  then  may  be  considered  as 
a  community,  a  cell-state,  where  the 
cells  are  the  citizens. 

Every  organism,  therefore,  is  a  com- 
munity, and  vice  versa,  every  community  is 
an  organism..  So  far  as  we  have  knowl- 
edge of  the  organisms  they  are  all  simi- 
lar in  this  respect.  Plants  and  animals 
are  communities  of  individually  living 
cells  in  the  same  sense  as  nations  and 
states  are  communities  of  human  beings. 
The  individuals  in  these  different  com- 
munities   are    of    different    kinds    and 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  31 

degrees  of  development,  but  the  com- 
position of  the  organic  edifice  is  in  all 
essential  features  exactly  the  same. 
The  differences  are  literally  only  ap- 
parent, being  due  as  they  are  to  the 
different  aspect  they  present  to  our  ob- 
servation. 

While  we  at  first  apprehend  animals 
and  plants  as  units,  not  seeing  the  in- 
dividual cells  by  which  they  are  com- 
posed, w^e,  in  the  national  organisms,  on 
the  contrary,  first  perceive  the  cells 
themselves — ^the  human  individuals — 
but  are  unable  to  grasp  the  nations  as 
individually  living  organisms.  On  the 
one  hand  we  see  directly  only  the  so- 
cial side,  on  the  other,  only  the  organic. 

If  there  are  beings  observing  the  hu- 
man community  as  we  see  plants  and 
animals,  they  would  comprehend  so- 
ciety as  a  unit  composed  of  different 
trades  and  industries,  but  not  as  com- 
posed of  men,  who  are  the  building  ma- 
terial in  these  members.  If  such  postu- 
lated observers  made  an  invention  cor- 
responding   to    our    microscope,     they 


32  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

would  be  surprised  to  find  the  social 
organism  composed  of  human  individ- 
uals, which  fact  would  seem  just  as 
mystical  to  them  as  the  cells  seemed 
at  first  to  us.  So  far  as  we  have  de- 
rived from  experience  a  knowledge  of 
organic  structure,  it  reveals  itself  to  us 
as  an  individual  composed  of  more  primi- 
tive and  elementary  individuals.  These 
elementary  units  of  lower  kind  and  or- 
der might  consequently  be  called  a 
spiritual  body  in  a  literal  sense. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  ele- 
mentary constituent,  each  organism  is 
a  community,  a  unit  of  similar,  inde- 
pendently living,  individuals;  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  organs  and  of  the 
whole,  this  community  itself  is  a  living 
individual  of  higher  potency  and  may 
in  its  turn  enter  as  an  elementary  or- 
ganism in  a  spiritual  body  of  still 
higher  power,  and  so  on,  in  a  geometric 
series.  Man  enters  into  the  social  or- 
ganism, but  is  himself  composed  of 
cell-organisms,  which  in  turn  consist  of 
more  primary  units. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  33 

Organic  structure  shows  everywhere 
the  same  general  qualities,  the  same 
fundamental  features.  Each  higher  and 
more  complex  organism  repeats  in  a 
more  perfect  way  and  in  a  higher  po- 
tency exactly  the  same  general  forms 
of  organization  as  its  elementary  con- 
stituents have  shown  in  their  own 
sphere.  Hence  the  surprising  simi- 
larity in  the  structure  of  the  organisms. 
When  we  know  one  we  know  all.  This 
would,  of  course,  be  neither  possible  nor 
conceivable  if  the  spiritual  bodies, 
which  form  their  corporal  structure, 
did  not  possess  corresponding  similar 
fundamental  qualities. 

In  what  relationship  do  these  cells 
stand  to  man?  Do  they  enter  into  his 
being  as  essential  or  only  as  incidental 
constituents?  In  other  words,  does  man 
act  as  organ  for  the  cells  and  the  cells 
as  organs  for  man  only  here  in  time;  or, 
such  existence  being  for  the  present 
postulated,  is  their  union  extended 
oven  to  a  future  existence?  This  ques- 
tion is  of  extraordinary  importance  be- 


34  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

cause  it  may  entirely  change  our  con- 
ception of  death.  With  this  question 
settled,  we  should  be  in  possession  of  a 
fact  from  which  we  could  draw  reliable 
conclusions,  and  this  fact  is  briefly  as 
follows:  Within  each  living  being  a  con- 
tinuous renovation  takes  place,  a  suc- 
cessive replacing  of  the  individuals 
which  belong  to  that  being's  spiritual 
body.  Human  beings  constitute,  as  al- 
ready pointed  out,  the  cells  or  the  spir- 
itual body,  in  an  organism  of  a  higher 
order,  viz.,  of  humanity.  In  this  organ- 
ism, an  incessant  renewal  takes  place, 
as  we  know,  inasmuch  as  new  genera- 
tions continuously  succeed  each  other. 
The  same  is  the  case  with  man's  own 
spiritual  body.  As  the  human  genera- 
tions in  the  social  body,  so  the  cell- 
generations  in  man's  body  replace  each 
other  while  the  man,  himself,  all  the 
time,  remains  the  identical  individual. 
The  same  holds  good  in  regard  to  the 
cytoplasm,  or  the  lower  units  that 
build  up  the  cells.  Everywhere  we 
meet  with  the  same  phenomenon  of  re- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  35 

newal  and  everywhere  with  the  same 
identity  of  the  complex  individual.  This 
latter  originates,  develops,  and  passes 
away  with  a  lifetime  that  bears  a  cer- 
tain proportion  to  its  complexity.  While 
man  counts  his  existence  and  develop- 
ment in  years,  the  evolution  of  society 
is  reckoned  in  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  years.  The  cells  in  their  turn  have 
a  lifetime  measured  in  days,  and  the 
units  forming  the  cytoplasm  possess 
an  individual  existence  perhaps  lasting 
but  a  few  minutes  or  seconds. 

The  circulation  in  the  body,  there- 
fore, is  not  confined  to  the  material 
particles  but  comprises  the  spiritual 
body,  the  living  units,  as  well.  Now, 
the  question  is:  What  is  the  relation- 
ship between  man  living  in  time  and 
these  dying  and  unborn  generations  of 
cells,  that  form  his  body?  Can  we  show 
that  these  living  units,  this  spiritual 
body,  is  as  necessary  for  man  in  a  fu- 
ture existence  as  here  in  time?  Then 
death  must  evidently  be  something  else, 
something  infinitely  more  than  we  have 


36  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

hitherto  imagined  or  surmised.  The 
point  is  to  investigate  what  is  mortal 
in  man  and  what  is  immortal,  and  on 
this  problem  we  will  now  proceed  to 
concentrate  onr  whole  attention. 


CHAPTER    III. 

Source  of  Spiritual   Knowledge. 

THE  CRITICALLY  thinking  public- 
to-day  might  be  said  to  have  long 
ago  relinquished  the  hope  of  obtaining  a 
sure  and  decisive  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, whether  there  is  an  existence  be- 
yond the  grave.  Some  people  confine 
themselves  to  a  faith  founded  on  a 
smaller  or  greater  probability  for  either 
conception.  We  want  palpable  evi- 
dence. To  many  it  even  appears  neces- 
sary to  have  a  look  behind  the  veil  of 
visible  matter  in  order  to  satisfy  them- 
selves as  to  whether  anything  exists 
within  the  void.  "Nobody  has  returned 
to  tell  us  how  it  is,"  we  are  often  re- 
minded, and  this  expression  clearly 
means  that  complete  certainty  requires 
the  testimony  of  eye-witnesses. 

Such  a  procedure  would  be  at  least 


38  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

radical  if  it  were  possible.  But  even 
if  it  were,  should  we  then  be  nearer  the 
goal?  The  whole  mode  of  thinking  is 
naive,  but  merits  attention  especially 
because  it  demonstrates  how  uncertain 
the  information  would  be  that  we 
would  obtain  through  this  channel.  If 
somebody  returned,  little  or  nothing 
would,  in  all  probability,  be  gained. 

In  the  first  place  how  could  we  know 
that  it  was  the  same  person  that  re- 
turned? It  would,  perhaps,  be  best  if 
the  soul  took  possession  of  the  same 
body.  The  absence  would  then  be  com- 
parable to,  or  essentially  analogous 
Avith,  the  condition  of  the  apparently 
dead.  But  to  begin  with,  we  could,  for 
good  reasons,  only  ascribe  a  small 
value  to  experience  gained  under  such 
conditions,  and,  further,  such  an  ab- 
sence would  evidently  mean  no  real 
separation  of  soul  and  body,  no  real 
death,  and  therefore  no  real  experi- 
ence of  the  very  thing  under  considera- 
tion. 

But  how,  and  under  what  conditions, 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  39 

would   an   event   of  this   kind   be   con- 
ceivable? 

Should  the  person  in  question  sud- 
denly disappear  from  our  sight  and 
then  just  as  suddenly  reappear  among 
us?  Endowed  with  his  present  organs 
and  senses,  which  are  closely  adapted 
to  earthly  conditions,  such  a  person 
could  see  and  comprehend  only  such  ob- 
jects as  differed  little  or  non-essentially 
from  those  in  the  world  where  we  now 
live.  He  would  possibly  be  able  to  ob- 
serve conditions  on  other  planets  in  the 
universe,  but  he  would  be  utterly  un- 
able to  comprehend  the  things  of  a 
world  abstracted  from  the  limitations 
of  planetary  life.  If  such  a  world  ex- 
ists, and  some  one  of  us  were  suddenly 
removed  to  it,  such  a  one,  amidst  all 
glories  with  seeing  eyes,  would  yet  see 
nothing;  with  hearing  ears,  hear  noth- 
ing; and  with  feeling  senses,  feel  noth- 
ing. In  order  to  see  and  grasp  what 
may  exist  and  happen,  the  observer 
himself  must  have  gone  through  a  cor- 
responding radical  change.       The  con- 


40  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

ditions  for  the  functioning  of  bodily  or- 
gans do  not  exist  there.  He  must  de- 
velop new  and  more  perfect  senses; 
higher,  spiritual  and  bodily  faculties 
which  differ  from  his  present  ones  as 
much  as  the  objects  of  this  higher 
world  differ  from  the  things  of  earth. 

A  direct  transposition  would  there- 
fore be  without  value.  In  order  to 
make  investigations,  a  radical  meta- 
morphosis is  an  indispensable  condi- 
tion. The  soul  must  be  separated  from 
its  earthly  clothing  and  pass  through 
all  the  transformations  which  com- 
mence with  natural  death.  In  order  to 
return  here,  this  person  must  again  go 
through  the  same  processes  in  reverse 
order.  At  his  re-birth  upon  earth  he 
would  not,  in  all  probability,  differ 
from  other  people.  He  would  know  as 
much  or  as  little  as  we  do. 

But  even  if  we  assume  the  improba- 
ble and  imagine  that  this  person  re- 
turned to  us  with  the  memory  of  all  he 
had  lived  through  and  that  he  tried  to 
relate  his  impressions  and  experiences, 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  41 

such  a  report  would  be  of  no  use  be- 
cause it  would  deal  with  ideas  and  con- 
ceptions entirely  incomprehensible  to 
us.  The  explanation  of  this  is  that  man 
is  unable  to  comprehend  things  and 
phenomena  which  have  not  acted  upon 
his  present  organs.  If  we  take  pains 
to  analyze  our  boldest  and  most  un- 
realistic fancies,  we  will  find  that  their 
substance  and  ingredients  are  only 
greatly  enlarged  or  reduced  images  of 
an  already  experienced  reality.  We 
have  never  possessed  that  man's  higher 
senses,  never  experienced  the  things 
which  those  higher  faculties  are  able 
to  grasp,  and  we  are  therefore  not  in  a 
position  to  form  any  idea  whatever 
about  such  a  world.  His  speech  would 
sound  like  a  foreign  language  that  we 
could  not  possibly  ever  learn  to  under- 
stand. 

Only  in  case  the  person  in  question 
<()uld  adapt  himself  to  our  present  way 
of  thinking  an<l  understanding,  would 
such  a  revelation  be  of  any  importance. 
But    then    again    the    question   arises. 


42  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

what  confidence  could  we  have  in  this 
man  who  pretended  to  possess  knowl- 
edge about  things  entirely  concealed 
from  us?  We  have  no  means  of  verify- 
ing the  information  thus  received.  It 
must  be  taken  in  good  faith,  and  so  the 
gates  to  doubt  would  again  be  thrown 
open.  If  someone  returned,  then,  little 
or  nothing  would  be  gained.  In  this, 
as  in  other  cases,  there  is  no  royal  road 
to  truth.  Only  a  painstaking  research 
will  lead  to  the  goal,  if  indeed  it  can 
ever  be  attained. 

The  question  is,  can  investigation  in 
this  direction  accomplish  anything?  If 
so,  we  must  at  least  not  entertain  or 
present  any  unreasonable  demands. 
Such  an  unreasonable  demand  would 
be,  for  instance,  to  expect  science  to 
explain  the  concrete  forms  which  life 
would  take  in  a  transcendental  world, 
No  man  ever  has  or  ever  will  make 
such  observations.  It  is  even  question- 
able whether  such  knowledge  would  be 
useful  or  beneficial  to  us  if  obtained. 
We  have  enough  to  occupy  us  in  our 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION  43 

daily  cares  and  earthly  tasks.  A  com- 
plete knowledge  of  life  in  a  future  ex- 
istence would  probably  disturb  and  dis- 
tract us  to  such  a  degree  that  we 
would  lose  interest  for  our  present  evo- 
lution in  this  existence.  It  may  be  suf- 
ficient for  us  to  know  whether  there  be 
another  life,  and  if  so,  whether  our 
dealings  and  actions  in  the  present  life 
are  of  any  importance  for  that  life. 
It  would,  no  doubt,  suffice  if  we  could 
acquire  a  knowledge  with  regard  to 
that  life  corresponding  to  what  we  know 
about  those  distant  worlds  in  space 
which  we  discern  with  our  bodily  eyes 
and  which  we  further  investigate  with 
our  astronomical  resources.  The  fol- 
lowing conditions  must  be  fulfilled  in 
order  to  make  the  cases  similar:  First 
of  all,  such  a  transcendental  world 
must  exist,  and  emit  rays  of  light. 
Further,  we  must  be  equipped  with 
some  special  organ,  a  spiritual  eye, 
which  we  could  direct  towards  it  and 
by  which  we  could  make  our  investiga- 
tions  here   on   earth.     Do   we   possess 


44  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

such  a  spiritual  eye?  We  answer  that 
our  conscience,  our  religious  intuition 
and  the  eternal  and  invariable  laws  of 
thinking  are  just  such  organs.  That  an 
ideal  world  exists,  radiating  a  light  of 
its  own,  we  are  able  to  conclude  from 
perceptions  received  through  our  con- 
science and  our  religious  intuition. 

Our  conscience  gives  us  rigorous  di- 
rections and  commandments,  which 
sometimes  seem  to  counteract  our 
earthly  happiness  and  show  themselves 
detrimental  to  our  present  success.  If 
our  life  were  confined  to  this  world,  the 
demands  of  our  conscience  were  not 
only  useless  and  injurious  but  also  in 
themselves  inexplicable.  That  man,  in 
his  religious  intuition,  also  apprehends 
a  reality  of  a  different  kind  from  the 
material  one,  appears  from  the  fact  that 
all  peoples,  in  all  times  and  in  all 
stages  of  evolution,  have  possessed  a 
religion,  as  we  now  do,  a  certain  con- 
ception of  supernatural  things.  It  may 
be  granted  that  a  great  amount  of  de- 
lusion enters  into  all  religions.     Never- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  45 

theless,  religious  errors  would  be  in- 
conceivable if  man  did  not  apprehend 
something  supernatural  which  he 
wrongly  interpreted.  Superstition  would 
not  exist  at  all,  because,  as  we  have  al- 
ready pointed  out,  nobody  can  think, 
speak  or  form  any  idea  whatever  of 
things  that  are  entirely  beyond  all  ex- 
perience. To  argue  with  a  person  about 
such  never-apprehended  realities,  would 
be  like  discussing  colors  with  the  blind. 
But  now  it  is  a  fact  that  apprehensions 
of  immaterial  substance  are  so  common 
to  man's  consciousness  that  if  we  could 
find  somebody  who  did  not  understand 
what  we  said  and  meant  in  speaking 
about  these  things,  we  should  be  safe 
in  asserting  that  such  a  man  was  not  a 
normal  person. 

But  if  all  men  have  an  immaterial 
experience,  why  do  ideas  and  opinions 
differ  so  about  the  same  experience, 
and  above  all  why  do  some  people  even 
deny  its  existence?  The  explanation  of 
this  surprising  contradiction  may  be 
understood  when  we  consider  that  man 


46  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

also  possesses  a  special  faculty,  his  rea- 
son, which  he  must  likewise  employ. 
With  his  reason,  man  examines  and 
studies  all  his  experiences  and  strives 
to  bring  them  into  agreement  with  the 
laws  of  thinking.  In  other  words,  he 
strives  to  systematize  them  into  a  phil- 
osophy. But  this  is  a  hard  and  labori- 
ous task.  It  is  difficult  as  it  is  to  ar- 
rive at  right  conclusions  in  regard  to 
the  material  world  to  which  our  senses 
are  responsive.  How  much  more  must 
this  be  the  case  in  regard  to  the  im- 
material world.  The  evolution  of  our 
reason,  therefore,  is  a  slowly  advancing 
historical  process,  presenting  a  contin- 
uous change  in  opinions,  although,  at 
the  same  time,  an  inner  continuity  may 
be  traced,  an  evolution  pointing  to- 
wards a  definite  goal. 

The  harmony  which  man  is  striving 
to  establish  between  his  reason  and  his 
other  faculties  can  obtain  only  during 
comparatively  short  intervals  of  time. 
Our  reason  grows  in  power  and  keen- 
ness; new  observations  and  discoveries 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  47 

are  almost  coustiintlj  made;  old  ideas 
and  opinions  do  not,  upon  closer  inves- 
tigation, satisfy  the  more  developed  de- 
mands of  our  thinking;  doubts  arise, 
and  this  is  a  necessary  condition  for  all 
theoretical  progress.  Such  a  doubt,  not 
of  the  immaterial  experience  which  we 
all  have,  but  of  the  way  in  which  this 
experience  is  to  be  explained,  has  been 
expressed  in  the  theory  called  material- 
ism, which  is  a  widely  spread  doctrine 
in  our  time.  Natural  science  in  itself 
is  never  materialistic  in  the  sense  in 
which  this  word  is  here  used,  because 
natural  science  does  not  concern  itself 
with  anything  immaterial.  But  if  this 
be  the  case,  how  is  it  possible  that 
science  can  have  anything  in  common 
with  materialism  which,  strictly  speak- 
ing, is  a  doctrine  about  spiritual 
things?  We  answer  that  life  in  this 
world  is  joined  to  and  revealed  through 
the  material  world.  A  more  complete 
knowledge  of  the  nature  of  matter 
ought,  therefore,  to  bring  about  a  de- 
cision by  and  by  as  to  whether  the  soul 


48  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

is  a  bodily  function  or  a  substance  dif- 
fering from  matter.  In  other  words, 
natural  science  must  sooner  or  later  ar- 
rive at  a  stage  when  it  either  verilfies 
materialism  or  gives  us  tangible  and 
obvious  evidence  for  the  truth  of  ideal- 
ism. It  was  to  such  a  point  that  science 
arrived  in  the  last  century  when 
Btichner  presented  his  well  known 
"Force  and  Matter,"  in  which  he  en- 
deavors to  prove  that  the  soul  is  an 
attribute  of  the  body,  religion,  immor- 
tality and  so  on  being  only  illusions. 

Had  natural  science  then  finally 
found  materialism  to  be  the  highest  ex- 
pression of  truth?  In  reality  this  was 
so  far  from  being  the  case,  that  natural 
science,  just  at  that  time,  had  given  en- 
tirely new  impulses  to  a  higher  evolu- 
tion of  religious  conceptions.  How  then 
could  Btichner,  with  natural  science  as 
a  basis,  deny  all  religion,  and  how  can 
materialism,  in  our  days,  live  with  un- 
diminished force  and  vitality?  No 
other  explanation  is  possible  than  the 
one  we  have  already  proposed.     When 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  49 


it  remained  unnoticed  that  natural 
science  had  discovered  the  inner,  spir- 
itual body,  which  is  the  very  kernel  of 
the  belief  in  the  body  as  an  eternal 
part  of  man's  nature,  then  materialism 
was  the  only  possible  alternative  for  all 
those  who  were  convinced  that  the  body 
contained  something  imperishable.  Ma- 
terialism, in  our  days,  springs  from  the 
same  instinct  as  the  death-cultus  in 
ancient  times.  It  has,  therefore,  in- 
tegrally, something  correct  and  true  as 
a  basis,  which  not  only  explains  the 
rapid  and  wide  expansion  of  this  doc- 
trine, but  also  the  fact  that  the  ma- 
terialists are  continually  using  data 
and  evidence  which  clearly  and  plainly 
disprove  their  own  position,  although 
they  do  not  perceive  it  themselves.  As 
probably  no  one  has  treated  this  theme 
in  a  manner  more  characteristic  of  ma- 
terialism than  Biichner,  we  will,  in  the 
following  study,  use  his  work  above 
mentioned,  which  may  be  said  to  be 
typical  for  the  materialist's  mode  of 
thinking   and    reasoning.      It   will    here 


50  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

be  evident,  we  hope,  that  the  modern 
natural  science  does  not  limit  but,  on 
the  contrary,  widens  the  boundaries  of 
existence,  as  we  receive  from  precisely 
this  science  the  palpable  demonstra- 
tion of  the  thesis  that  all  life  on  this 
earth  has  its  origin  in  a  higher,  imma- 
terial world. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Importance  of  Spontaneous  Generation. 

THE  MANNER  in  which  this  prob- 
lem, from  a  materialistic  point  of 
view,  can  and  must  be  treated,  is  not 
so  complicated  as  we  might  imagine. 
The  central  thought  in  all  materialistic 
discussions  and  investigations  may  be 
briefly  expressed  as  follows:  Life  is  a 
material  force  and  nothing  else.  If  this 
be  true,  then  of  course  materialism  is 
the  only  true  religion.  Whether  God 
or  some  other  higher  being  exists,  must 
then  become  a  question  of  little  or  no 
consequence.  Man  knows  in  any  case 
his  own  origin  and  fate.  The  funda- 
mental religious  doctrines  will  then 
read:  In  matter  alone  dwell  all  the 
forces  of  nature  and  spirit;  in  matter 
alone  can  these  forces  appear  and  re- 
veal   themselves;   nature   knows   of   no 


52  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

supernatural  beginning  or  continua- 
tion; it  produces  everything;  consumes 
everything;  is  itself  beginning  and  end, 
cradle  and  grave;  by  its  own  power 
nature  produces  man,  by  its  own  power 
it  receives  him  back  again. 

Against  these  and  similar  statements 
there  would  be  no  objection,  if  it  could 
be  shown  that  life  really  has  its  source 
in  the  material  world.  But  if  it  can  be 
demonstrated  that  life  never  does,  nor 
ever  could  by  any  possibility,  originate 
in  lifeless  matter,  then  it  is  evident 
that  we  must  look  for  some  other 
source. 

Let  it  be  our  object,  then,  fully  to  in- 
vestigate this  problem. 

If  living  beings  are  produced  by  ma- 
terial forces,  experience  must  verify 
the  fact  that  matter  really  creates  life 
of  itself.  In  other  words,  the  "to  be 
or  not  to  be"'  of  materialism  is  identi- 
cal with  the  old  question  of  gcneratio 
aequivoca  or  s-pontanea,  i.  e.,  whether 
there  exists  in  nature  a  spontaneous  or 
parentless  generation  of  living  beings. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  53 

Generatio  aequirovn  covers  the  entire 
ground  of  the  materialists.  Here  the 
doctrine  has  not  only  its  principal  roots 
but  all  of  them. 

If  the  materialists  lose  this  foothold, 
all  their  natural  science  resources  are 
emptied  at  once,  so  important  is  gen- 
eratio spontanea  for  materialism.  Only 
under  this  form  and  with  this  sub- 
stance can  natural  science  have  any- 
thing in  common  with  materialism, 
which  latter,  strictly  speaking,  is  only 
a  religious  doctrine,  although  as  such 
purely  negative.  But  just  for  this  rea- 
son science  has  for  centuries  labored 
to  decide  whether  this  doctrine  is  false 
or  true. 

The  question  is,  does  or  does  not  this 
spontaneous  generation  exist?  Scien- 
tific research  has,  in  all  times,  occupied 
itself  with  this  question  in  different 
forms  and  modes. 

The  farther  we  go  back  in  time  the 
more  general  we  find  the  opinion  that 
life  may  arise  spontaneously  from  in- 
organic   matter.      That    such    an    idea 


54  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

should  prevail,  is,  of  course,  easy  to  un- 
derstand. Very  little  was  known  about 
the  propagation  of  the  lower  animals 
and  plants.  Especially  the  very  pecu- 
liar and  complicated  development  of 
the  parasites  and  their  passive  migra- 
tions were  practically  unknown. 

It  seemed  impossible  to  understand 
whence  these  beings  had  come,  so  the 
nearest  explanation  was  resorted  to, 
that  is  to  say,  that  wherever  they  were 
found,  they  had  come  into  existence  "of 
themselves."  Neither  was  it  so  clearly 
understood  then  as  now  that  eggs  and 
seeds  are  living  beings  as  well  as  the 
fully  developed  animals  and  plants.  It 
was  thought  that  grain  must  decay  in 
the  earth,  yea,  that  this  was  the  neces- 
sary condition  for  the  growth  of  the 
plant. 

Thus  people  had  daily  before  their 
eyes  cases  where  living  beings  were 
generated  by  substances  that  seemed 
inert  and  dead. 

But  with  a  better  and  more  complete 
knowledge  of  organisms  and  especially 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  55 

of  the  extremely  complicated  mode  of 
propagation  characteristic  of  insects, 
doubts  as  to  generatio  spontanea  increas- 
ingly arose.  It  was,  however,  at  a  com- 
paratively late  time,  or  in  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  that  Harvey 
formulated  his  famous  thesis,  "omne 
virum  ex  oro"  or,  as  it  has  been  later 
said,  ^'omne  vivitm  ex  vivo,'-  which  we 
may  translate  thus:  "Life  implies  life; 
all  living  beings  descend  from  previous 
existing  parents,"  or  negatively,  "IV^o  liv- 
ing being  is  generated  from  lifeless  matter.''^ 
Thus,  for  the  first  time,  the  idea  was 
pronounced  by  natural  science  that  life 
is  a  specific  force;  an  independent  prin- 
ciple, that  has  not  its  roots  in  the  ma- 
terial world. 

As  generatio  aequivoea  leads  to  ma- 
terialism, so  Harvey's  formula  leads  to 
pure  idealism.  That  these  consequences 
should  have  been  seen  from  the  begin- 
ning, was  so  much  the  less  to  be  ex- 
pected since  even  today  no  such  dis- 
covery has  been  made  or  could  have 
been    made,   simply   because   no   atten- 


56  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

tion  has  been  given  to  it.  Hitherto  the 
only  question  has  been:  Is  Harvey's 
formula  a  fact  verified  by  natural 
science  or  not?  In  this  form  the  battle 
has  raged  for  over  two  centuries,  often 
with  great  vehemence,  and  victory  has 
leaned  now  to  one  side,  now  to  the 
other.  Finally,  it  was  agreed  that 
parentless  generation  was  not  to  be 
found  among  the  higher  forms  of  ani- 
mals and  plants  which  could  be  ob- 
served with  the  naked  eye,  Btichner 
himself  says  it  has  not  hitherto  been 
discovered  that  any  higher  or  more  de- 
veloped organism  may  be  created  by 
inorganic  matter  and  forces  alone. 

"Today,"  he  says,  "it  seems  to  be  a 
general  law  of  the  inorganic  world  that 
everything  living  originates  from  a 
parental  embryo  or  else  is  directly 
segregated  from  the  mother-body." 

But  although  spontaneous  generation 
of  the  higher  animals  and  plants 
seemed  doubtful  even  to  Buchner,  noth- 
ing was  at  this  time  settled  in  regard 
to  the  origin   of  the  lower  organisms. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  57 

With  the  discovery  of  the  microscopi- 
cal organic  world,  a  new  field  and  one 
more  difficult  of  access  was  opened  for 
research.  It  was  now  the  sudden  and 
unexpected  appearance  of  bacteria,  as- 
pergillus  and  infusoria  in  places  where 
their  previous  existence  could  not  be 
imagined,  that  maintained  the  belief  in 
generatio  spontanea.  But  by  and  by  we 
learned  to  understand  the  propaga- 
tion and  life  also  of  these  low 
organisms,  their  ability  to  withstand 
very  high  or  very  low  temperatures, 
and  the  facility  with  which  they 
are  spread  by  the  air  and,  above  all, 
their  rapid  propagation.  It  commenced 
to  be  more  and  more  evident  that  even 
iu  the  micro-organic  world  no  parent- 
less  generation  exists.  The  investiga- 
tions by  Spallanzani,  and  later  by 
Schultze,  Schwann,  von  Dusch  and 
Schroder,  were  epochal  for  the  estab- 
lishing of  this  fact.  Their  method,  how- 
ever, left  some  room  for  criticism 
which  was  forcefully  pointed  out  by  a 


58  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

great  number  of  scientists,  especiall}'^ 
by  the  Englishman  Needham. 

During  all  these  disputes  Harvey's 
formula  had,  however,  won  such  a 
stability  and  approbation  that  Biichner 
himself  under  its  pressure  formulated 
his  position  in  the  following  cautious 
words:  "Even  if  recent  scientific  re- 
searches have  more  and  more  limited 
the  ground  for  spontaneous  generation, 
it  is  nevertheless  not  improbable  that 
it  even  now  takes  place  among  the  lowest 
and  least  developed  organisms.'^ 

It  may  willingly  be  conceded  that 
this  assertion  w^as  in  its  time  by  no 
means  without  foundation.  But 
scarcely  could  Biichner  or  anybody 
else  at  that  moment  imagine  how  soon 
the  hour  of  decision  would  strike. 
Shortly  after  1860  the  many  centuries 
old  question  was  finally  settled  almost 
simultaneously  by  Hoffman  and  Pas- 
teur. Through  the  latter's  masterly  in- 
vestigations it  was  fully  demonstrated 
that  parentless  generation  does  not 
exist  in  the  micro-organic  world  either. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  59 

Before  Pasteur's  simple  and  clear  evi- 
dence, opposition  was  silenced  even  so 
far  that  the  question  has  almost  en- 
tirely ceased  to  occupy  our  attention. 
Omne  vimiiri  ex  vivo  appears  now  to  be 
an  unchallenged  truth.  Life  implies 
life. 

But  although  science  thus  rejected 
generatio  spontanea,  the  materialists 
nevertheless  occupy  a  very  strong  po- 
sition on  the  selfsame  foundation  as 
formerly,  and  continue  the  defense  ap- 
parently not  without  some  success. 

In  spite  of  Btichner's  real,  or  per- 
haps partly  pretended,  confidence,  he 
seems  to  have  had  a  presentiment  of 
how  weak  the  support  of  generatio  spon- 
tanea was,  and  we  find  him  therefore 
suddenly  reasoning  as  if  its  cause  were 
already  lost.  Thus  he  makes  the  en- 
tirely sound  remark  that  even  if  at  the 
present  time  all  animals  and  plants 
must  have  parents,  yet  nothing  what- 
ever is  thereby  demonstrated  in  regard 
to  the  very  first  appearance  of  life  in 
the    universe.      "If   all    organic    beings 


60  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

have  parents,  how,  then,  did  the  first 
parents  come  into  existence?-'  he  asks. 
"When  all  outer  conditions  were  favor- 
able, might  they  not  have  appeared 
spontaneously,  accidentally  or  neces- 
sarily? Or  must  the  first  organisms 
have  been  created  through  the  inter- 
vention of  some  higher  power?''  Biich- 
ner  concedes  that  this  question  is  ex- 
tremely complicated,  and  at  first  glance 
may  appear  unsolvable  without  the  as- 
sumption of  some  such  higher  being 
who  of  his  own  will  created  the  first 
organisms  as  it  pleased  him  and  en- 
dowed them  with  the  faculty  of  j^ropa- 
gation.  "Orthodox  scientists  point  with 
satisfaction  also  to  this  state  of  af- 
fairs," says  Biichner,  "and  they  remind 
us  at  the  same  time  of  the  artful  and 
complicated  structure  of  the  world, 
and  warmed  by  their  conviction  they 
see  therein  the  wise  arrangements  of 
a  higher,  personal  creator,  who  built 
the  world  according  to  his  personal  in- 
tentions," 

We    might,    according    to    Buchner, 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  61 

dismiss  these  orthodox  thinkers  with 
the  assumption  "that  the  first  elements 
endowed  with  the  idea  of  the  race  have 
been  present  in  space  from  all  eter- 
nity in  formless  chaos  out  of  which  the 
universe  slowly  consolidated,  and  acci- 
dentally developed  after  the  formation 
and  cooling  of  the  planet  wherever  con- 
ditions were  favorable."  But  such  fic- 
titious reasonings  or  pretexts,  Biichner 
assures  us,  are  not  necessary.  Scien- 
tific facts,  he  says,  indicate  with  great 
distinctness  that  the  organic  beings  on 
our  earth  owe  their  generation  and 
propagation  to  the  co-operation  of 
physical  substances  and  forces  alone. 

After  such  an  introduction  we  pro- 
ceed with  interest  to  learn  about  these 
scientific  facts,  but  how  great  is  our 
disappointment  when  we  find  that 
Buchner  here  takes  up  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent subject,  which,  if  it  has  any  con- 
nection with  the  question  at  issue,  goes 
to  prove  just  the  reverse  of  what  he 
intended.  The  whole  long  series  of 
facts  to  which  he  now  points  is,  in  a 


62  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

few  words,  nothing  but  Darwin's  theorj 
in  a  paleontological  light.  What  Btich- 
ner  shows  by  numerous  examples  from 
fossil  deposits,  is  that  higher  forms  of 
animals  and  plants  have  slowly  devel- 
oped from  lower  forms.  But  what  has 
this  fact  to  do  with  gencratio  spontanea? 
That  higher  forms  have  developed  from 
lower  forms  only  confirms  the  dictum 
that  life  implies  life;  in  other  words, 
supports  Harvey's  law.  But  it  is  some- 
thing else  that  Biichner  should  have 
demonstrated.  He  should  instead  have 
shown  us  that  the  first  organisms  owe 
their  existence  to  physical  forces  alone. 
But  on  this  subject  he  uses  only  vague 
expressions,  void  of  any  real  signifi- 
cance, about  the  slow  cooling  off  of  the 
earth;  about  the  length  of  the  geologi- 
cal periods,  and  about  favorable  condi- 
tions; but  not  a  line  to  explain  what 
this  word  "favorable"  stands  for. 

Although  Biichner  here  inadvertently 
supports  something  different  from  what 
he  intended,  his  remark  nevertheless 
remains  true  that  the  present  mode  of 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  63 

propagation  proves  nothing  in  regard 
to  the  generation  of  the  first  organisms. 

Other  scientists  have  gone  further 
than  Biichner  and  believed  themselves 
justified  in  extending  Harvey's  law  to 
cover  not  only  the  present  time,  but  all 
times.  And  the  problem  as  to  the  first 
organisms  has  been  answered  in  vari- 
ous wa^^s.  Sir  William  Thomson  be- 
lieves that  such  might  have  come  to 
the  earth  with  some  meteoric  stone, 
possibly  a  moss-clad  fragment,  from  an- 
other planet  in  the  universe  that  had 
met  with  a  cosmic  catastrophe,  and, 
further,  he  has  even  tried  to  show  that 
this  hypothesis  does  not  involve  any 
ph^'sical  impossibility. 

Opinions  seem  to  be  divided,  then, 
as  to  the  validity  of  Harvey's  law.  This 
again  indicates  a  deficiency  in  the  law 
itself,  and  it  is  true  that  such  a  de- 
ficiency really  exists.  Hnrvey^s  formula 
is  not  a  lair;  it  /.<?,  r/,s  yrt,  only  an  empiri- 
cal hypothesis. 

It  is  true  that  life  presupposes  life 
in  all  the  cases  we  have  been   able  to 


64  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

investigate.  These  cases  are  exceed- 
ingly numerous  because  on  the  disbe- 
lief in  generatio  spontanea  rests  a  whole 
modern  industry',  the  art  of  preserving, 
which  in  millions  of  cases  daily  verifies 
the  hypothesis.  But  our  experience,  in 
spite  of  this,  does  not  reach  far.  If  we 
continue  our  observations,  who  can 
guarantee  that  we  would  not  finally 
discover  that  Biichner,  after  all,  was 
right,  and  one  single  case  would  suffice. 
The  utmost  we  can  attain  by  observa- 
tion is  a  certain  degree  of  probability, 
and  if  we  undertook  to  prove  Harvey's 
hypothesis  to  be  a  law  in  this  way,  our 
experiments  must  be  extended  in  in- 
finitum. 

In  order  to  reach  certainty  only 
under  present  conditions,  we  must 
study  the  generation  of  every  now  liv- 
ing organism,  animals,  plants,  bacteria 
and  the  like.  If  it  were  found  then 
that  all  these  beings  have  had  parents 
it  would  still  be  impossible  to  draw 
absolutely  sure  conclusions  in  regard 
to  previous  generations.    We  should  be 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  65 

obliged  to  extend  our  researches 
through  antiquity  and  primeval  ages. 
If  then  no  gap  was  to  be  found  in  the 
series  and  we  perhaps  finally  traced 
life  back  to  the  "moss-clad  fragment" 
from  another  world,  we  would  again 
face  the  question,  how  the  beings  on 
that  planet,  once  in  time,  had  come 
into  existence?  Perhaps  there  the  ele- 
ments and  forces  of  nature  were  such 
as  to  create  life  spontaneously.  This 
question,  of  course,  could  not  be  de- 
cided except  through  continued  obser- 
vations, which  would  be  obliged  to  ex- 
tend to  every  point  of  an  infinite  uni- 
verse and  back  to  the  dawn  of  time. 
First,  then,  we  should  know  that  Har- 
vey's hypothesis  was  a  law,  valid  with- 
out limitations  in  the  past — but  also 
only  in  the  past — and  valid  with  one 
single  exception,  namely,  the  very  first 
organism,  of  which  we  presently  shall 
speak.  In  regard  to  the  law's  validity 
in  the  future,  we  should  no  doubt  pos- 
sess a  knowledge  that  approached  cer- 
tainty, but  it  could  not  be  called  abso- 


66  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

lutely  sure.  Because,  even  granted 
that  no  living  being  hitherto  was  with- 
out parents,  it  is  not  logically  impossi- 
ble that  sometime  in  the  future,  lifeless 
matter  might  undertake  to  create  or- 
ganisms. To  obtain  certainty  we  must 
continue  our  observations  until  the  end 
of  time. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Materialistic  Demonstration   of 
Generatio  Spontanea. 

THIS  whole  method  is  consequently 
unsatisfactory.  With  Harvey's  law 
proved  in  the  empirical  way,  the  only 
way  hitherto  tried,  we  are  still  unable 
to  decide  how  the  first  organism  came 
into  existence,  and  this  is  probably 
after  all  the  most  important  question. 
Because,  as  Btichner  rightly  points  out: 
"If  life  has  a  supernatural  beginning,  it 
has  also  a  supernatural  subsequent  ex- 
istence." Even  if  we  were  observing 
with  our  own  eyes  the  creation  of  the 
first  organism  we  would  not  be  able  to 
say  whether  it  were  the  result  of  nat- 
ural or  supernatural  forces.  The  mo- 
ment our  study  commenced,  the  mystic 
act  of  creation  would  already  have 
taken   place,  an   act  which   lies  beyond 


68  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

the  boundaries  of  research,  and  which 
we  never  shall  be  able  to  penetrate, 
however  minute  or  comprehensive  our 
observations.  An  entirely  different 
method  is  here  necessary.  Our  en- 
deavor must  be  to  find  the  innermost 
cause  of  the  whole  series  of  generations 
evolving  throughout  the  ages.  In 
other  words,  we  must  derive  Harvey's 
law  from  the  inner  nature  of  matter 
itself,  show  that  this  matter  has  such 
qualities  that  it  cannot,  never  could, 
and  never  will,  be  able  to  produce 
a  single  living  being.  Only  then  shall 
we  have  demonstrated  that  Harvey's 
formula  is  a  universal,  natural  law, 
and  then  it  will  be  not  only  our  right 
but  our  duty  to  draw  its  logical  con- 
sequences. 

Is  it  possible  to  show  that  matter 
possesses  such  qualities?  In  regard  to 
the  matter  of  which  our  earth  is  com- 
posed we  are  at  least  able  to  closely  in- 
vestigate its  qualities.  But  our  earth 
is  only  an  insignificant  point  in  the 
universe  and  we  must  search  the  en- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  69 

tire  cosmos.  Is  not  this  impossible? 
We  answer  that  in  many  ways,  espe- 
cially through  the  spectral  analysis,  we 
already  know  that  nature's  elements 
everywhere  are  the  same  and  that  they 
everywhere  have  the  same  qualities. 
If  Harvey's  law  can  be  deduced  from 
the  matter  we  are  able  to  investigate, 
we  have  at  the  same  time  shown  its 
validity  for  the  whole  of  the  universe 
without  limitations  as  to  time  and 
space;  because  then  we  may  apply  in 
regard  to  organic  substance  Btichner's 
true  remark  as  to  the  products  of  na- 
ture in  times  past.  "The  natural 
forces,"  he  says,  "that  governed  the 
universe  formerly  are  the  same  as  those 
whose  results  we  now  witness  every 
day  and  moment.  Earth's  past  time  is 
to  our  thought  nothing  but  an  unroll- 
ing of  its  present.  The  geologists, 
guided  by  their  knowledge  of  nature 
and  its  present  laws,  have  been  able 
with  increasing  accuracy  to  trace  back 
evolution  to  the  most  distant  ages. 
Meanwhile  it  has  been  established  that 


70  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

everywhere  and  during  all  time  only 
those  elements  and  forces  have  been 
active  which  surround  us  today.  No- 
where has  a  point  been  found  where 
research  had  to  be  thrown  overboard 
and  an  interference  of  unknown  forces 
substituted;  and  nowhere  and  never 
will  this  happen.  Everywhere  the  same 
laws  were  in  force  and  the  same  matter 
was  found.  Historical  research  has 
demonstrated  that  past  and  present  are 
subject  to  the  same  evolution,  rest  on 
the  same  basis.*'  And  different  it  could 
not  be,  reasons  Btichner,  since  life 
knows  no  exceptions,  does  not  shirk 
any  inorganic  forces,  but  is  itself  only 
the  result  of  the  activity  of  these  forces. 
To  obtain  a  definite  understanding 
of  the  origin  of  life  it  is  therefore  suffi- 
cient to  examine  the  origin  of  organic 
matter  in  our  days,  and  for  such  an 
analysis  there  is  at  least  no  lack  of 
material.  Wherever  a  tree  or  a  grass 
blade  grows  or  a  seed  sprouts  there 
dead  substance  is  transformed  into  liv- 
ing; wherever  an  animal  or  a  plant  is 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  71 

decaying,  there  organic  matter  is  again 
turned  into  inorganic. 

The  result  obtained  through  such  in- 
vestigations already  made,  stood  in  di- 
rect opposition  to  the  immediate  ob- 
servations. Although  Harvey's  formula 
finally  was  accepted,  it  was  neverthe- 
less taught  that  no  specific  life-force 
exists. 

This  contradiction  was  never  fully 
understood  or  emphasized  during  the 
last  century,  and  the  reason  was  that 
the  materialistic  tendency  was  so  pre- 
dominant that  nobody  noticed  that  the 
question  of  life-force  is  the  innermost 
main  point,  around  which  not  only  gcn- 
eratio  spontanea  and  omne  viviim  ex  vivo, 
but  also  their  consequences,  material- 
ism and  idealism,  are  centered. 

But  in  order  to  deny  life-force  as  an 
independent  principle,  some  scientific 
facts  to  build  upon  were  necessary  and 
these  were  not  lacking. 

Before  we  state  these  facts  we  will 
in  a  few  words  describe  the  historical 
situation. 


72  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

According  to  the  previously  prevail- 
ing vitalistic  doctrine  a  specific  life- 
force  existed,  present  and  active  in  all 
organic  processes.  The  conceptions  in 
regard  to  these  processes  were,  how- 
ever, very  dim,  and  the  reason  was  that 
the  problem  of  combustion  had  not  yet 
been  solved. 

This  problem  may  be  said  to  be  the 
very  key  to  the  chemical  explanation 
of  an  organism.  The  ancient  mystery 
of  fire  was  first  solved  by  Lavoisier 
after  Scheele  and  Priestly  had  discov- 
ered oxygen.  The  solution  of  this  com- 
plicated question  not  only  became  the 
starting  point  for  a  new  and  rapid 
evolution  of  chemistry,  it  also  almost 
immediately  threw  a  clear  light  on  the 
innermost  recesses   of  the   organism. 

The  elementary  constituents  of  the 
organism  and  their  origin  were  known 
before,  and  it  now  became  also  possible 
to  explain  the  great  store  of  energy 
that  the  living  being  possesses.  To  as- 
sume a  specific  life-force  seemed  super- 
fluous.  Life-force,  from  having  been  the 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  73 

indispensable  explanation  of  organic 
phenomena,  commenced  more  and  more 
to  be  regarded  as  a  "back-way  for 
ignorance,"  one  "of  those  many  side 
doors  that  dull  heads  employ  when 
they  find  it  too  laborious  to  think  about 
something  that  they  do  not  under- 
stand." 

It  was  natural  that  the  materialists 
would  eagerly  embrace  these  ideas. 
From  the  few  words  with  which  Btich- 
ner  introduces  his  chapter  about  life- 
force,  we  obtain  a  clear  insight  into  the 
opinions  that  are  held  on  this  subject 
in  the  world  of  natural  science.  "The 
mystic  notions,"  says  Biichner,  "that 
have  confused  the  philosophy  of  science 
were  invented  by  a  time  possessing  but 
a  slight  knowledge  of  nature.  To  these 
notions,  which  have  been  thrown  over- 
board by  a  later  exact  scientific  re- 
search, belongs  first  of  all  the  so-called 
life-force.  Scarcely  has  there  ever  ex- 
isted an  hypothesis  more  detrimental 
to  the  cause  of  science  than  this  singu- 
lar organic  force  presented  in  contradis- 


74  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

tinction  to  the  inorganic  forces,  gravity, 
affinity,  light,  electricity,  magnetism, 
etc.  If  science  were  forced  to  ac- 
knowledge such  an  hypothesis,  all  we 
have  said  about  the  immutability  of 
the  natural  laws  and  of  the  mechanical 
order  of  the  universe  would  collapse, 
and  we  would  be  forced  to  admit  that 
a  higher  hand  interferes  in  the  course 
of  nature,  dictating  exceptional  laws 
that  defy  all  calculations.  A  break 
would  be  found  in  the  natural  structure 
of  the  world,  science  would  despair,  and 
all  physical  and  psychical  research 
cease.  Fortunately  science  has  not  been 
obliged  to  yield  to  the  irrational  pres- 
sure of  the  dynamists,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, has  won  everywhere  a  splendid 
victory;  it  has  lately  gathered  such  a 
mass  of  self-evident  facts  to  its  support 
that  life-force  nowadays  wanders  an 
empty  shadow  along  the  boundaries  of 
natural  science.  All  those  who  have 
made  a  closer  study  of  any  of  the 
branches  of  science  that  deal  at  all 
witli  the  organic  world,  agree,  almost 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  75 

to  a  man,  in  the  condemnation  of  life- 
force,  and  the  very  word  is  so  detested 
by  science  that  it  is  always  purposely 
avoided." 

We  may  now  let  Btichner  present  the 
real,  scientific  evidence  why  life-force 
must  be  charged  to  the  ignorance  of 
a  time  when  knowledge  of  nature  was 
but  slight.  In  this  way  the  reader  will 
perhaps  obtain  a  more  direct  and  at 
the  same  time  an  historic  view  of  the 
materialistic  mode  of  thinking. 

Above  all,  sajs  Btichner,  it  is  the 
province  of  chemistry  to  show  that  the 
elements  of  matter  are  everywhere  the 
same  in  the  inorganic  as  well  as  in  the 
organic  world,  and  that  life  substance 
is  unable  to  present  one  single  atom 
not  found  in  inorganic  nature  and  there- 
fore not  partaking  in  the  general  flux 
fStoffivechsel)  of  matter.  Chemistry  has 
decomposed  organic  bodies  into  their 
elements  exactly  as  it  did  before  with 
the  inorganic. 

All  known  inorganic  forces  act  iden- 
tically with  respect  to  living  as  to  dead 


76  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

nature.  We  have  seen  that  forces  are 
nothing  but  qualities  and  motions  of 
the  smallest  particles  of  matter,  the 
atoms,  with  which  these  forces  are  in- 
variably and  inseparably  conjoined.  An 
atom  therefore  under  all  circum- 
stances can  only  perform  the  same 
work,  develop  the  same  forces,  produce 
the  same  effects,  whether  it  belongs  for 
the  moment  to  an  organic  or  to  an  in- 
organic composition.  Eespiration,  di- 
gestion, the  process  of  growing  and 
segregation  are  all  chemical  reactions. 
Oxygen,  hydrogen,  carbon  and  nitrogen 
are  composed  and  decomposed  within 
the  organic  body  in  accordance  with 
the  same  laws  that  govern  them  out- 
side. 

We  have  also  learned  more  perfectly 
how  nourishment  is  transformed  into 
organic  tissues,  and  we  know  that 
through  different  channels  it  leaves  the 
body  in  precisely  the  same  quantity  as 
it  entered,  partly  unmodified  and  partly 
in  other  forms  and  compositions.  No 
one  atom  has  meanwhile  been  lost  or 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  77 

become  another.  Digestion  is  a  purely 
chemical  process.  The  stomach  of  an 
animal  may  well  be  compared  to  a 
chemical  retort,  where  the  substances 
there  mixed  are  decomposed  and  com- 
posed exactly  according  to  the  general 
laws  of  chemical  affinity. 

These  facts,  which  may  be  multiplied 
ad  infinitum,  enable  us  to  understand 
that  the  difference  between  organic  and 
inorganic  is  non-essential,  and  that 
therefore  every  living  being  may  be 
considered  a  chemical  laboratory, 
whence  we  arrive  at  the  following  re- 
sult: 

Because  daily  experience  teaches  us  that 
all  organisms  consist  of  the  same  atoms  as 
does  inorganic  nature,  although  in  differ- 
ent compositions,  therefore  no  specific  or- 
ganic force,  no  life-force,  can  exist.  This 
latter  is  not  a  principle,  hut  a  result. 
When  organic  substance  assimilates  in- 
organic and  brings  it  into  its  own  char- 
acteristic condition,  this  is  not  done 
through  a  specific  force,  but  through  a 
kind   of  infection,   whereby  the  molec- 


78  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

ular  conditions  in  the  organic  sub- 
stance are  transferred  to  the  inorganic. 
But  not  only  does  organic  matter 
consist  of  the  same  elements  that  are 
to  be  found  in  inorganic  nature,  but 
the  organism  as  a  whole  is  nothing  but 
a  bodily  mechanism  not  differing  from 
other  machines  except  in  its  more  com- 
plicated construction.  Water,  says 
Btichner,  which  must  be  considered  as 
the  foremost  and  most  important  part 
in  all  organic  beings,  and  without 
which  all  animal  and  plant  life  were 
impossible,  water  penetrates,  flows  and 
sinks  according  to  the  laws  of  gravity, 
not  differing  by  the  breadth  of  a  hair 
in  its  action  within  and  without  the  or- 
ganism. The  circulation  of  the  blood 
is  as  mechanical  as  we  could  wish,  and 
the  anatomic  contrivance  that  causes 
it  bears  a  surprising  likeness  to  me- 
chanical apparatus  made  by  man's 
hand.  The  heart  is  provided  with 
valves  just  as  a  steam  engine;  the  valve 
movements  produce  audible  sounds. 
The  rise  of  the  blood  from  the  lower 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  79 

parts  of  the  body  to  the  heart  against 
gravity  can  only  be  made  possible  by  a 
mechanical  arrangement.  The  bowels 
convey  their  content  mechanically;  me- 
chanically the  muscle  movements  take 
place,  and  mechanical  motility  charac- 
terizes men  and  animals.  The  human 
eye  obeys  the  same  laws  as  a  camera 
obscura  and  the  ear  catches  the  sound 
waves  in  same  way  as  does  any  other 
vault,  and  so  on. 

Science,  therefore,  entertains  no 
doubt  that  the  living  organism  is  a 
machine  as  well  as  the  steam  engine, 
i.  e.,  a  system  where  chemical  afl&nity 
produces  heat,  electricity  and  muscular 
energy. 

Now,  are  these  facts,  pointed  out  by 
Btichner,  true  and  correct?  Undoubt- 
edly they  are  in  all  essential  respects 
eternal  truths,  and  we  may  add  that 
they  are  just  as  important  foundations 
for  idealism  as  the  materialists  have 
claimed  them  to  be  for  their  opinion. 
But  before  we  take  up  this  subject  let 


80  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

US  see  how  the  materialists  derive  their 
philosophy  from  the  facts  mentioned. 

There  are  many  other  objects  in  this 
world,  of  which  we  might  almost  ver- 
bally repeat  what  Btichner  says  about 
organic  matter;  for  instance,  windows, 
doors,  locks,  bricks,  houses,  etc.  In 
these  objects  also  there  is  not  one  atom 
to  be  found  which  was  not  present  in 
the  raw  material  of  which  they  were 
made.  But  does  the  raw  material  it- 
self produce  these  things?  So  Btichner 
reasons.  He  says:  ^^Because  all  organic 
matter  consists  of  inorganic  raw  material, 
therefore  the  raw  materiai,  itself,  has  made 
the  organic  matter.  Because  the  organism 
is  essentially  like  a  steam  engine,  the 
huilding  material  itself  has  made  the  or- 
ganism." 

This  headlong  way  of  reasoning  and 
concluding  is  not  characteristic  of 
Btichner  alone,  but  applies  equally  to 
the  whole  materialistic  school  during 
the  past  century. 

We  have  not  said  that  inorganic  raw 
material  is  unable  to  produce  organic 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  81 

substance  spontaneously,  which  sub- 
stance later  upbuilds  the  organism,  but 
for  the  present  this  remains  an  open 
question  to  which  as  yet  the  material- 
ists have  not  given  an  answer.  But 
before  we  enter  the  discussion  of  this 
extremely  important  question,  we  will 
in  this  connection  mention  another  dis- 
covery of  natural  science  which  seems 
exactly  to  support  the  materialistic 
trend  of  thought,  a  fact,  therefore,  that 
crowns,  so  to  speak,  their  whole  philos- 
ophy. 

Up  to  the  year  1828  it  was  thought 
that  organic  substance  could  be  created 
only  by  the  force  of  life.  But  Wohler 
unexpectedly  succeeded  in  producing  or- 
ganic compositions  from  inorganic  sub- 
stances, a  discovery  which  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  series  of  others  in  the  same 
direction.  It  is  with  evident  satisfac- 
tion that  Btichner  calls  our  attention  to 
these  facts. 

In  order  to  show  the  necessity  for 
assuming  a  life-force,  he  says,  people 
have  reminded  the  chemists  that  they 


82  DEA  TH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

are  unable  to  produce  organic  composi- 
tions, that  is,  the  peculiar  grouping  of 
the  elements  into  those  ternary  and 
quaternary  compounds  which  owe  their 
existence  to  an  organic  being,  en- 
dowed with  life  and  life-force,  and  they 
have  added  the  amusing  remark  that 
the  chemists  must  produce  living  be- 
ings in  their  retorts — make  men — if 
there  be  no  life-force  and  if  life  be  only 
the  result  of  chemical  processes.  The 
chemists  have  not  been  at  a  loss  for 
an  answer.  They  have  made  dextrose, 
several  organic  acids  and  bases,  and 
recently  they  have  also  succeeded  in 
producing  hydrates  of  carhon.  Evolu- 
tion has  proceeded  rapidly  in  this  di- 
rection, and  today  alcohol  and  precious 
perfumes  are  made  from  coal,  candles 
from  slate,  Berlin  blue,  taurin  and  in- 
numerable other  bodies — formerly  be- 
lieved to  be  exclusively  of  animal  or 
plant  origin — from  the  simple  material 
that  inorganic  nature  offers  us. 

The   materialists    have   a    custom   of 
not  considering  themselves  under  obli- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  83 

gation  to  do  more  than  point  to  some 
scientific  facts,  without  investigating 
whether  these  facts  support  their  spec- 
ulations or  not.  Faithful  to  this  cus- 
tom, Btichner  stops  just  where  his  own 
researches  should  have  commenced. 
Btichner  has  not  written  a  textbook  on 
physics  or  chemistry.  He  has  under- 
taken the  extremely  serious  task  of  in- 
vestigating whether  modern  natural 
science  has  produced  results  which 
show^  that  nothing  but  matter  and  its 
forces,  and  consequently  no  soul,  no 
eternal  life,  etc.,  exist.  Our  first  de- 
mand of  such  an  analysis  would  be,  to 
put  it  moderately,  that  the  facts  cited 
really  prove  what  they  are  put  forward 
to  prove.  But  to  this  demand  neither 
Btichner  nor  his  followers  pay  any  at- 
tention. Btichner  might,  for  instance, 
in  regard  to  the  facts  last  mentioned, 
have  taken  the  following  questions  as 
the  starting  point  for  his  investigations: 
It  is  true  that  the  chemists  have  pro- 
duced artificially  certain  organic  com- 
pounds of  inorganic  elements,  and  they 


84  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

will  probably  go  much  further  in  this 
direction.  But  is  this  really  something 
to  be  wondered  at,  when  all  organic 
substance  is  composed  of  inorganic  ele- 
ments which,  wherever  they  exist,  pos- 
sess the  same  qualities?  The  question 
is  how  this  organic  substance  is  formed. 
Does  it  appear  spontaneously  in  the 
chemist's  laboratory  while  he  himself 
stands  idle,  observing  the  phenomenon, 
or  must  he  interfere,  guide  and  plan 
the  activity  of  the  chemical  forces  in 
order  to  obtain  these  artificial  com- 
pounds? Why  should  not  something 
similar  take  place  in  the  laboratory  of 
inorganic  nature?  There  is,  as  far  as 
our  experience  goes,  no  organic  sub- 
stance to  be  found  due  to  the  spontane- 
ous action  of  known  natural  laws. 
What  is  the  reason  of  this?  How  is 
organic  matter  formed  in  nature?  And, 
further,  is  there  no  difference  between 
the  organic  matter  produced  by  the 
chemists  and  that  present  in  living  na- 
ture? And  if  this  difference  proves  to 
be    that    the    former    is    not    organized 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  85 

while  the  latter  always  is,  why  cannot 
the  chemists  produce  organized  matter? 

If  Btichner  had  proposed  these  or 
similar  questions  and  taken  time  to 
think  them  over,  he  would  have  ob- 
tained a  different  result,  but  instead  he 
breaks  off  his  argumentation  just  where 
it  should  have  commenced. 

Consequently  the  fault  in  the  ma- 
terialists' process  of  thinking  does  not 
lie  in  the  facts  used  as  foundation  for 
their  argument.  The  premises  and  the 
beginning  are  correct.  Just  because  or- 
ganic matter  consists  of  the  same  ele- 
ments as  inorganic,  just  for  this  reason 
natural  science  can  decide  whether  the 
physical  laws  are  able  spontaneously 
to  produce  such  matter  and  such  ma- 
chines. The  materialists  have  stopped 
after  providing  the  introduction;  the 
continuation  and  the  end  are  lacking. 
They  have  overlooked  the  whole  series 
of  scientific  facts  that  stand  in  neces- 
sary correlation  to  the  starting  point. 
We  have  therefore  only  to  resume  the 
interrupted     demonstration     and     will 


86  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

then  endeavor  to  make  the  latter  part 
as  simple  and  comprehensible  as  Btich- 
ner  made  the  former. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
How  Is  Organic  Matter  Produced? 

THE  ESSENTIAL  in  matter  is 
force.  Strictly  speaking,  we  com- 
prehend nothing  but  forces.  Every  body 
manifests  itself  as  resistance  necessary 
to  overcome  if  we  wish  to  remove  it 
from  its  place. 

What  remains  of  the  body  if  we 
think  of  it  as  deprived  of  this  counter 
force?  At  least  nothing  remains  that 
we  can  touch  or  by  which  we  may  ob- 
tain palpable  evidence  of  its  existence. 
Neither  does  there  remain  anything 
that  we  can  see,  as  seeing  depends  upon 
resistance  to  light,  reflection  of  the 
ether-waves.  If  the  mountain  exerted 
no  resistance  we  would  pass  through 
it  without  feeling  or  seeing  anything 
whatever. 

True,  there  is  perhaps  matter — for  in- 
stance, the  ether — which  we  neither  see 


88  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

nor  feel,  but  which  still  exists.  This 
matter  is  then  qualified  by  some  other 
form  of  energy  by  which  it  manifests 
itself.  Thus  we  comprehend  ether  as 
light,  heat  and  colors,  all  forces,  as  well 
as  gravity,   electricity,   etc. 

Already  from  these  suggestions  it  is 
evident  that  force  is  the  only  substan- 
tial thing  in  the  material  world.  With- 
out force,  matter  is  nothing  that  may 
be  comprehended  either  by  the  senses 
or  by  the  reason.  What  we  call  matter 
is  nothing  but  different  kinds  of  en- 
ergy.* We  have  space-occupying  en- 
ergy, chemical,  electrical,  mechanical 
forms  of  energy,  and  so  forth. 

How  are  these  forms  of  energy  re- 
lated to  each  other?  Between  forms 
so  different  as  tones  and  light,  colors 
and  mechanical  work,  there  is  at  least 

•The  latest  researches  in  regard  to  the  newly  dis- 
covered corpuscles  show  that  these  "bodies"  have  a 
mass  proportional  to  the  square  of  their  velocity,  thus 
forcing  us  to  conclude  that  they  at  rest  have  no  mass. 
Perhaps,  therefore,  the  ancient  dualistic  world  of  mat- 
ter and  force  is  merging  into  a  larger  unity  where 
life  directs  force  to  serve  its  specific  purposes. — Trans- 
lator's note. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  89 

no  connection  apparent  to  external  ob- 
servation. 

For  a  long  time  it  was  also  believed 
that  no  such  relation  existed.  It  was 
only  after  1840  that  several  scientists 
made  the  startling  discovery  almost 
simultaneously  that  physical  forces  may 
be  transformed  one  into  another.  It 
proved  possible  to  transform  a  certain 
quantity  of  heat  into  an  equal  quantity 
of  mechanical  energy,  which  again 
might  be  turned  into  equivalent  quan- 
tities of  electricity,  light,  chemical  en- 
ergy, etc.  It  was  further  found  that 
these  processes  might  be  undertaken  in 
the  reverse  order,  so  that  the  original 
form  of  energy  could  be  restored  in  un- 
changed quantity  and  with  unmodified 
qualities.  Nothing  was  lost  and  noth- 
ing was  added. 

Recent  science  is  founded  entirely  on 
these  facts,  which  later  generations 
probably  will  consider  as  the  greatest 
of  all  the  discoveries  of  the  last  cen- 
tury. 

This  law  of  the  permanence  and  the 


90  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

mutability  of  force  is  of  immediate  im- 
portance to  materialism.  As  long  as  it 
was  thought  that  the  forces  of  nature 
were  separate  and  different  from  each 
other,  it  was  easy  to  imagine  that  the 
more  inaccessible  or  mystic  forms  stood 
nearer  life,  yea,  were  life  itself.  The 
absurdity  of  such  an  idea  is  now  obvi- 
ous, since  it  has  been  shown  that  the 
physical  forces  may  be  transformed 
into  one  another  and  therefore  are  not 
intrinsically  separate,  but  fundamen- 
tally the  same  force,  acting  differently 
under  different  conditions.  Now,  if  life 
were  a  form  of  material  energy,  any 
form  of  physical  force  might  be  trans- 
formed into  life  and  consciousness,  into 
spiritual  and  moral  forces.  Life  and 
consciousness  might  then  be  artificially 
produced,  and  we  would  rack  our 
brains  in  order  to  find  the  mechanical 
equivalent  of  the  intellect,  try  to  meas- 
ure it  in  amperes  and  volts,  etc.  But 
nothing  of  this  kind  is  done,  simply  be- 
cause it  is  impossible,  as  presently  we 
shall    see.      Ldfe    cannot    he    transformed 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  91 

into  any  form  of  material  energy^  and,  vice 
versa,  no  form  of  material  energy  can  he 
transformed  into  life.  Life  and  physical 
force  are,  as  to  nature  and  substance, 
essentially   different   principles. 

Although  the  law  just  referred  to 
about  the  permanence  and  the  muta- 
bility of  physical  forces  thus  seems 
rather  to  disprove  materialism,  it  was 
not  for  this  reason  chiefly  that  we  have 
related  it.  Our  purpose  is  to  find  a 
basis  in  this  fact  from  which  the  funda 
mental  contrariety  between  organic  and 
inorganic  matter  most  easily  may  be 
explained,  and  thereafter  to  enter  into 
this  differentiation  just  as  far  as  is  nec- 
essary to  decide  the  main  point  as  to 
whether  one  form  of  matter  can  spon- 
taneously produce  another. 

We  recollect  that  the  materialists  en- 
deavored to  make  the  difference  be- 
tween organic  and  inorganic  com- 
pounds as  slight  as  possible.  The  for- 
mer consisted  of  exactly  the  same  ele- 
ments as  the  latter  and  these  elements 


92  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

had  exactly  the  same  qualities  in  one 
compound  as  in  another. 

However  true  this  may  be,  is  not 
meat  nevertheless  something  different 
from  limestone,  although  limestone  may 
easily  be  found  that  contains  nearly 
all  the  elements  present  in  the  meat? 
In  starch,  sugar,  fat,  etc.,  precisely  the 
same  elements  enter  as  in  water  and 
carbonic  acid,  but  no  materialist  denies 
that  there  are  important  differences  be- 
tween these  two  groups  of  substances. 

What  is  it,  then,  that  essentially 
separates  the  two  classes  of  matter 
(nothing  but  the  most  essential  fac- 
tors concerns  us  here)?  If  we  ask  this 
question  of  chemistry,  we  are  answered 
that  this  quality  is  combustibility.  Or- 
ganic matter  is  combustible;  inorganic 
is  not. 

But  why  should  organic  matter  be 
combustible?  Because  fuel  is  as  neces- 
sary to  the  organism  as  to  the  steam 
engine.  To  both  their  physical  source 
of  power  is  heat,  and  even  the  engine 
receives  it  through  the  combustion   of 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  93 

organic  substances.  All  the  fuel  that 
is  generally  used  is  of  organic  origin, 
although  we  seldom  think  of  this  fact. 

But  why  can  we  not  fire  an  engine 
with  inorganic  products?  Because  these 
cannot  burn,  and  the  reason  again  is, 
that  they  are  already  burned.  If  this 
be  true,  they  must  once  have  been  fuel 
themselves,  must  once  have  been  in  a 
burning  state.  How  do  we  know  this? 
Because  the  inorganic  world  consists 
almost  entirely  of  chemical  compounds 
that  are  only  formed  by  combustion, 
when  this  word  is  used  in  its  widest 
sense. 

If  these  suggestions  are  correct,  or- 
ganic matter  is  to  inorganic  as  fuel  to 
the  products  of  combustion.  In  the  in- 
organic world  the  latter  have  been 
transformed  to  fuel  which  in  a  renewed 
combustion  reproduces  the  same  prod- 
ucts as  those  of  which  it  once  was 
formed. 

If  this  be  the  case  our  problem  may 
be  thus  formulated:  Can  inorganic 
products    of    combustion    again    form 


94  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

combustibles  spontaneously?  Can  car- 
bonic acid  or  water  through  the  spmi- 
taneous  activity  of  physical  forces  be 
transformed  into  sugar,  starch,  fat, 
etc.? 

In  order  to  decide  if  this  be  possible 
we  must  first  know  what  combustion  is, 
and  we  will  therefore  briefly  explain 
what  this  term  means. 

Combustion  is  a  chemical  process,  it 
is  said,  and  this  definition  may  be  true, 
although  it  may  also  be  misleading. 
In  daily  speech  combustion  is  generally 
identified  with  the  phenomena  of  light 
and  the  generation  of  heat,  which  we 
immediately  observe,  but  chemical  proc- 
esses can  neither  be  seen  nor  felt,  be- 
cause they  take  place  in  the  inner 
world  of  matter  which  hitherto  has 
proved  inaccessible  to  human  observa- 
tion. Yea,  chemical  processes  are  so 
foreign  to  the  experiences  of  our  senses 
that  chemistry,  the  science  of  these 
processes,  is  entirely  founded  on  the 
deductions  of  our  reason.  The  prem- 
ises that  our  reason  uses  for  its  con- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  95 

elusions  belong  to  the  physical  world 
which  is  the  outer  side  of  matter  that 
faces  us.  The  phenomena  that  accom- 
pany combustion  belong  to  this  world 
and  are,  therefore,  strictly  speaking, 
not  chemical  but  physical  phenomena. 

But  even  if  these  phenomena  of  light 
and  heat,  of  which  the  latter  especially 
interests  us  here,  belong  to  the  world 
comprehensible  to  our  senses,  they 
must  nevertheless  be  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  inner  chemical  process 
because  heat  is  developed  in  nearly 
every  chemical  reaction.  Heat  is  not 
created  from  nothing;  there  must  be 
a  cause  for  this  force,  and  the  cause 
cannot  be  anything  but  the  chemical 
energy  which  in  the  chemical  process 
is  transformed  into  heat.  In  few 
words:  What  we  generally  term  com- 
bustion cannot  be  identical  with  the 
actual  chemical  process.  The  light  and 
the  heat  must,  on  the  contrary,  be  con- 
sidered as  the  external  results  of  the 
chemical  process,  its  physical  effect. 

By    a    close    study    of   this    physical 


96  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

effect  we  have  also  been  able  to  explain 
what  happens  within  matter  itself.  As 
it  is  necessary  to  understand  this  in 
order  to  comprehend  how  heat  is  de- 
veloped, we  will  endeavor  shortly  to 
outline  the  present  scientific  conception 
of  the  chemical  process  called  combus- 
tion. 

From  the  qualities  of  matter  we  have 
concluded  that  the  bodies  we  see  are 
composed  of  extremely  tiny  particles 
called  molecules,  which,  however,  are 
so  small  that  with  our  optical  re- 
sources we  never  shall  be  able  to  ob- 
serve them.  Even  the  smallest  particle 
of  dust  visible  to  the  eye  must  be  con- 
sidered as  containing  an  enormous 
number  of  them.  With  molecules,  how- 
ever, we  have  not  reached  the  limit 
of  the  divisibility  of  matter.  They  may 
themselves  be  divided  by  chemical 
forces  into  smaller  material  units 
called  atoms,  and  these  latter  are 
therefore  the  building  stones  of  which 
matter  is  ultimately  composed.  Now 
neither  the  atoms  within  the  molecule, 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  97 

nor  the  molecules  within  the  visible 
body,  are  packed  closely  together. 
They  are  separated  by  comparatively 
great  spaces.  But  if  these  building 
stones  are  separated  from  each  other 
we  might  expect  that  they  would  be- 
have like  the  grains  in  a  sand  heap. 

How  can  material  bodies  then  be 
solid,  hard,  tough,  etc.?  The  reason  is 
that  the  spacing  in  question  is  regu- 
lated by  other  forces  of  essentially 
different  kind.  We  have  attracting  as 
well  as  repelling  forces,  such  as  tend 
to  increase  as  well  as  to  reduce  the 
distances  between   the  particles. 

We  shall  first  consider  the  attract- 
ing forces,  and  these  are  called  co- 
hesion and  adhesion  when  exerted  be- 
tween molecules.  The  mutual  attrac- 
tion between  the  atoms  within  the 
molecules  has  been  named  affinity  or 
chemical  energy. 

Turning  again  to  the  form  of  energy 
acting  in  the  opposite  direction,  we 
find   just   the  force   we   are   in   search 


98  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

of — iieat,  wiiieli  is  the  physical  source 
of  energy  of  all  living  beings. 

That  heat  increases  the  distances  be- 
tween molecules  is  already  evident 
from  the  fact  that  all  bodies  increase 
in  volume  when  heated,  a  process  which 
may  be  continued  by  further  supply  of 
heat  until  the  solid  becomes  a  fluid, 
and  the  fluid  a  gas. 

In  solid  bodies  the  attracting  forces 
have  predominance.  The  molecules  are 
arranged  with  definite  spacing  and  in 
definite  positions  so  that  the  body  as- 
sumes a  certain  external  shape.  If 
such  a  body  is  exposed  to  heat  the 
molecules  are  removed  from  each  other 
and  the  cohesion  becomes  correspond- 
ingly feebler.  Finally  a  point  is  reached 
when  the  molecules  are  so  far  unfet- 
tered that  they  are  at  liberty  to  move 
with  respect  to  each  other.  The  solid 
has  then  become  a  fluid  and  may 
through  continued  heating  enter  the 
gaseous  state.  The  cohesion  is  then 
entirely    conquered    so   that   the   mole- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  99 

cules  move  freely  in  all  directions  in- 
dependent of  each  other. 

Similarly,  heat  influences  the  atoms 
of  which  the  molecules  are  composed. 
Even  chemical  attraction  gives  way  to 
heat  so  that  all  bodies  at  suflacient 
temperature  are  decomposed  into  free 
atoms  or  elementary  constituents. 

We  have  seen  that  heat  performs 
mechanical  work  in  so  far  as  it  sep- 
arates masses  from  each  other.  But 
heat  not  only  performs  this  work  but 
is  the  work  itself,  or  is  identical  with 
the  movement  of  these  particles. 

Consequently  a  certain  quantity  of 
mechanical  work  is  equivalent  to  a 
certain  quantity  of  heat  and  vice  versa, 
and  it  is  this  transformation  from  one 
form  of  energy  into  another  that  takes 
place  during  a  chemical  reaction.  The 
mechanical  energy  of  the  atoms  is  here 
converted  into  heat  which  may  again 
be  used  for  the  other  forms  of  mechan- 
ical activity.  Through  the  chemical  re- 
action that  heat  is  regained  which  pre- 
viously was  utilized  in  separating  the 


100  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

atoms  or  sustaining  their  movement, 
and  this  explains  why  heat  is  devel- 
oped in  chemical  processes.  If  this  de- 
velopment of  heat  is  increased  to  a 
certain  point,  or,  which  is  the  same,  if 
the  reaction  takes  place  with  greater 
violence,  the  common  phenomena  of 
fire  and  light  appear.  But  even  with- 
out these,  every  chemical  process  may 
be  called  combustion  in  a  wider  sense, 
that  is,  if  we  consider  the  production 
of  heat  as  the  characteristic  external 
effect  of  the  chemical  force. 

At  sufficiently  high  temperature, 
then,  all  matter  must  be  in  an  incan- 
descent gaseous  state,  and  vice  versa  at 
a  low  temperature  it  is  a  solid  mass. 

With  these  short  notes  we  have  also 
outlined  the  history  of  our  own  earth. 
The  same  gaseous  state  in  which  our 
sun  is  at  present  belonged  once  to  the 
earth  according  to  science  of  today. 
During  enormous  periods  of  time  the 
incandescent  matter  of  the  earth  radi- 
ated light  and  heat  into  the  cold  uni- 
verse.    Finally  so  much  heat  was  lost 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         101 

that  chemical  attraction  could  assert 
itself.  Regarded  as  a  sun,  the  earth 
was  then  dying  and  it  entered  upon  the 
chemical  era.  During  this  state  the 
elements  combined  with  each  other  ac- 
cording to  general  chemical  laws  into 
such  compounds  as  were  the  necessary 
outcome  of  their  atomic  weights, 
valence,  and  positive  or  negative  quali- 
ties. In  this  connection  it  is  sufficient 
to  point  out  that  these  processes  must 
go  on  incessantly  until  compounds  have 
been  formed  in  which  the  chemical 
forces  have  reached  equilibrium  and 
rest.  In  the  case  of  our  planet  these 
products  formed  the  solid  crust  of  the 
earth,  the  primeval  rock,  the  mineral 
world,  further  water  and  finally  air, 
the  oxygen  and  nitrogen  of  which  may 
be  considered  as  remains  of  the  ele- 
ments. Furthermore,  according  to  a 
law  known  to  science  as  that  "of  the 
least  resistance,"  chemical  reactions 
proceed  from  compounds  which  have 
more  energy  to  such  as  have  less, 
wherefore  it  follows  that  each  product 


102  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

was  as  poor  in  energy  as  the  conditions 
at  the  time  permitted. 

If  we  now  especially  give  our  atten- 
tion to  the  combustion  taking  place  in 
chemical  processes,  this  era  may  also 
be  called  the  period  of  combustion  or 
the  general  world-fire,  names  which  are 
exact  even  if  we  use  combustion  in  the 
common,  limited  sense  of  oxidation. 
Oxygen  is  considered  to  constitute 
about  one-half  of  the  solid  crust  of  the 
earth,  and  when  to  this  quantitative 
preponderance  is  added  its  extraordi- 
narily strong  affinity  to  other  elements, 
these  must  with  necessity  burn  into 
oxides  just  as  has  been  the  case. 

It  is  therefore  with  the  products  of 
combustion,  that  is  to  say,  the  ashes  and 
the  remains  from  a  general  colossal 
world-flre,  that  the  earth  enters  its 
planetary  state,  at  which  stage  it  be- 
comes suitable  for  the  creation  and 
evolution  of  living  beings.  It  is  from 
burnt  substances  that  the  organisms 
must  form  the  combustible  matter  that 
constitutes     their     material     clothing. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.  103 

How  can  this  be  done?  In  the  only 
possible  way;  that  is,  by  again  decom- 
posing the  products  of  combustion  into 
their  elements  and  bringing  them  into 
such  combinations  that  a  new  combus- 
tion may  take  place.  Are  the  products 
of  combustion  able  to  perform  this 
transformation  spontaneously?  They 
have  just  lost  the  fund  of  energy  that 
could  have  made  them  combustible  and 
this  lost  heat  must  again  be  stored  up 
and  therefore  taken  from  some  other 
source,  as  no  heat  can  be  created  from 
nothing. 

When  the  chemical  forces  had  once 
reached  equilibrium  and  rest,  the  earth 
might  then  be  compared  to  an  immense 
corpse  thrown  into  space  and  which 
must  remain  in  the  same  state  eter- 
nally, or  until  it  met  with  a  cosmic  ca- 
tastrophe. Not  the  slightest  movement 
or  variation  could  now  take  place  spon- 
taneously on  its  surface.  If  a  change 
happened  it  must  have  had  its  cause  in 
another  source  of  power,  and  two  such 
sources  existed.     One  was  the  earth's 


104  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

own  internal  heat,  and  the  other  the 
sun,  and  we  must  therefore  consider  if 
either  of  these,  or  both  together  could 
produce  combustible  organic  substance. 

In  regard  first  to  the  earth's  internal 
heat  we  might  immediately  eliminate 
this  source  of  energy,  as  it  has  no 
direct  connection  whatever  with  the 
origin  of  organic  matter,  an  assertion 
so  commonly  agreed  upon  that  we  need 
not  dwell  further  upon  it. 

Infinitely  more  important  is  the  sun, 
which  has  been  and  is  the  cause  of 
most  of  the  changes  taking  place  on 
the  earth's  surface  after  its  cooling  off. 
The  sun  causes  the  circulation  of  the 
air  and  water  and  thereby  the  whole 
series  of  disintegration  and  decay,  the 
history  of  which  is  written  with  indeli- 
ble letters  in  our  geological  sediments 
and  formations.  These  formations  tell 
us  that  new  oceans  and  continents,  new 
minerals  and  rocks  have  successively 
been  formed,  but  nowhere  that  organic 
substances  were  ever  built  up  spon- 
taneously   under    the    sun's    influence. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         105 

The  processes  of  decay,  on  the  con- 
trary, proceed  in  the  entirely  opposite 
direction. 

Through  them  nothing  is  formed  but 
compounds  poorer  in  energy  than  be- 
fore. In  decaying,  the  products  of  com- 
bustion absorb,  if  possible,  more  oxy- 
gen, become  more  burnt  or  oxidized,  so 
that  this  whole  process  may  be  called 
an  after-burning,  a  more  thorough  com- 
bustion of  the  remnants  from  the  first 
general  world-fire. 

The  spontaneous  activity  of  nature's 
forces,  then,  go  in  a  direction  just  op- 
posite to  the  one  necessary  for  the  pro- 
duction of  organic  substances.  And 
anything  else  was  not  to  be  expected. 
The  products  of  combustion  resemble 
fallen  weights,  slack  bow-strings,  water 
below  the  fall,  etc.,  whereas  combusti- 
ble organic  matter  might  be  compared 
to  lifted  weights,  set  bow-strings,  water 
above  the  fall,  etc.  If  matter  has  once 
fallen  from  a  higher  to  a  lower  level  of 
energy  it  can  never  spontaneously  re- 
turn, especially  as  it  has  just  lost  the 


106  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

necessary  store  of  energy.  As  impos- 
sible as  it  is  for  the  swift  current  to 
turn  its  course,  or  for  the  fallen  weight 
to  lift  itself  or  for  the  discharged  bow- 
string to  set  itself  again,  so  impossible 
is  it  for  the  products  of  combustion 
spontaneously  to  turn  into  combustible 
substances. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Organic  Matter  as  a  Product  of  Art. 

FROM  the  previous  chapter  we  now 
draw  the  extremely  important  con- 
clusion that  all  organic  matter  is  a 
product  of  art,  that  is,  a  product  which 
the  forces  of  nature  cannot  produce. 
Spontaneously  these  forces  only  create 
natural  products.  Products  of  art  be- 
long to  an  entirely  different  category; 
they  owe  their  existence  to  a  foreign 
interference  in  the  natural  order  of  the 
world  and  have  a  cause  that  does  not 
fall  within  the  limits  of  a  mere  me- 
chanical causality.  But  before  we  dis- 
cuss this  subject,  let  us  first  thoroughly 
understand  what  we  mean  by  saying 
that  organic  matter  is  a  product  of  art. 
Materialists  have  shown  that  the 
organism  closely  resembles  a  steam  en- 
gine, but  they  have  neglected  to  point 


108  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

out  that  the  similarity  extends  also  to 
the  mode  in  which  they  are  produced. 
Everybody  is  probably  convinced  that 
the  forces  of  nature  have  never  made 
and  never  will  make  a  steam  engine. 
If  the  same  might  be  said  in  regard  to 
the  machines  which  we  call  organisms, 
then  materialism  would  be  disproved. 
But  why,  to  begin  with,  cannot  the 
forces  of  nature  build  steam  engines? 
We  must  be  able  to  present  the  rea- 
sons for  this  statement. 

If  we  first  consider  the  building  ma- 
terial, we  find  this  in  the  factories  in 
the  form  of  plates,  bars  and  ingots  of 
iron,  copper,  lead,  tin,  etc.  Where  do 
these  metals  come  from?  Nowhere  in 
nature  is  such  material  found.* 

Humanity  had  inhabited  the  earth 
thousands  of  years  without  having  an 

♦Chemists  understand  that  the  so-called  native  iron, 
found,  for  instance,  in  Greenland,  forms  no  real 
exception  more  than  the  chemical  reactions  that  ab- 
sorb heat  form  exceptions  to  the  general  law  that 
chemical  processes  set  heat  free,  because  if  the 
necessary  simultaneous  reactions  are  taken  into  ac- 
count, all  the  reactions  as  a  whole  show  a  surplus  of 
heat. — Translator's  note. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         109 

idea  of  the  existence  of  such  substances 
as  iron,  copper,  lead,  etc.  The  metals 
are  chemical  ingredients  in  our  min- 
erals and  from  these  minerals  they  are 
extracted  by  complicated,  artificial  proc- 
esses. The  ore  is  often  lifted  out  of 
the  depths  of  the  mountains;  it  goes 
through  a  series  of  treatments  which 
the  forces  of  nature  cannot  spontane- 
ously undertake.  We  will  here  give 
only  a  moment's  attention  to  the  proc- 
ess of  reduction,  or  the  separation  of 
the  metal  from  its  natural  compounds. 
This,  as  we  know,  is  done  in  our  blast 
furnaces,  where  the  iron  is  reduced 
through  the  presence  of  coal  and  other 
suitable  substances  in  certain  propor- 
tions. If  we  now  remember  that  the 
heat  in  our  furnaces  often  reaches 
about  2000°  Centigrade  we  see  at  once 
that  the  sun  may  shine  on  our  moun- 
tains throughout  eternity  without  ever 
producing  the  temperature  necessary 
for  the  reduction. 

But  the  engine  is  not  yet  completed. 
The   plates    must    be    first    rolled    and 


110  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

shaped,  the  ingots  must  be  melted  and 
cast  into  frames,  shafts,  bearings,  etc.; 
in  short,  the  raw  material  must  be 
formed  into  all  those  numerous  parts 
of  which  the  machine  is  composed. 
The  engine  is  from  beginning  to  end  a 
product  of  art. 

There  is  especially  one  circumstance 
pertaining  to  all  these  transformations 
that  merits  a  closer  attention.  If  we 
remember  that  all  the  material  used  in 
a  product  of  art  is  taken  from  nature, 
and  besides  that,  all  the  processes  in 
making  and  shaping  the  raw  material 
are  carried  out  through  the  employ- 
ment of  natural  laws,  we  might  still 
ask  the  question,  why  physical  forces 
should  not  enter  spontaneously  into  the 
necessary  artificial  combinations  for 
producing  this  result.  Until  we  have 
pointed  out  the  quality  in  matter  which 
prevents  this,  we  have  not  completely 
demonstrated  the  inability  of  natural 
forces  to  build  an  engine  spontane- 
ously. 

This    quality    has    been    named    vis 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         Ill 

inertiae,  the  inertia  of  matter,  one  of 
the  most  important  natural  laws  that 
exist.  What  does  this  law  teach  us? 
It  says  that  matter  cannot  itself  change 
its  condition.  If  a  body  is  in  motion  it 
can  never  come  to  rest  unless  another 
force  at  least  equal  to  the  primary  op- 
poses the  motion.  If  it  be  at  rest,  it 
cannot  impart  motion  unto  itself;  en- 
ergy, applied  from  without,  is  neces- 
sary. Inertia  keeps  the  earth  moving 
around  the  sun;  a  stone  thrown  into 
the  air  would  proceed  everlastingly 
with  its  initial  velocity  if  the  attrac- 
tion of  the  earth  did  not  interfere. 

Because  of  this  quality,  then,  matter 
remains  in  its  natural  equilibrium.  An 
engine  would  never  be  built  because 
the  ore  would  stay  in  the  mountains 
and  the  metals  forever  remain  in  their 
compounds.  Every  product  of  art  re- 
quires a  foreign  interference  in  the  ma- 
terial world;  matter,  in  consequence 
of  its  inertia,  presents  a  determined 
and  often  very  energetic  resistance  to 
such  an  intervention. 


112  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

Exactly  the  same  reasons  that  pre- 
vent natural  forces  from  building  a 
steam  engine,  cause  also  their  inability 
to  produce  an  organism,  and  this  in  a 
much  higher  degree  because  the  organ- 
ism is  in  a  still  fuller  sense  a  product 
of  art.  The  organic  building  material, 
instead  of  being  plates  and  ingots  of 
iron,  copper,  lead,  etc.,  consists  of  car- 
bon, hydrogen,  sulphur,  phosphorus, 
chlorin,  potassium,  sodium,  magnesia, 
etc.,  or  both  metals  and  metalloids  of 
which  the  former,  on  account  of  their 
negative,  and  the  latter  because  of  their 
positive  qualities  cannot  exist  in  a  free 
state.  From  the  minerals  found  in 
nature  these  substances  must  be  ex- 
tracted for  organic  purposes.  The  ele- 
ments are  different,  but  otherwise  we 
may  verbally  repeat  in  regard  to  or- 
ganic substance  what  has  been  previ- 
ously said  about  the  steam  engine. 

It  is  the  creation  of  organic  matter 
by  art  that  the  materialists  have  neg- 
lected to  take  into  account.  Therefore 
they  look  upon  the  organism  just  as  a 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         113 

new  race,  suddenly  succeeding  human- 
ity, would  view  our  steam  engines. 
These  machines  would  certainly  appear 
very  mysterious  to  the  earth's  new  in- 
habitants. But  a  growing  civilization 
would  undoubtedly  discover  that  all  the 
material  used  in  the  engine  is  taken 
from  ores  to  be  found  in  nature.  If  now 
somebody  would  draw  the  conclusion 
that  these  ores  themselves  had  made 
the  engine  he  would  reason  as  do  the 
materialists  today  in  regard  to  the  or- 
ganism. The  parallel  does  not  halt  in 
any  respect,  but  it  is  sufficient  in  this 
connection  to  call  attention  only  to  one 
or  two  of  the  more  important  com- 
ponents of  the  organism. 

Organic  matter,  or  combustible  sub- 
stance, consists  of  carbon  and  hydro- 
gen which  in  an  organism  are  com- 
parable to  the  iron  in  a  steam  engine. 
But  nowhere  in  nature  is  free  hydrogen 
or  free  inorganic  carbon  to  be  found. 
The  carbon  was  burned  to  carbonic 
acid  in  earth's  first  combustion,  and 
similarly  the  hydrogen  was  burned  to 


114  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

water  long  before  the  conditions  for 
organic  life  existed  on  the  earth. 

From  these  original  products  of  com- 
bustion, burnable  organic  matter  is 
formed  by  decomposition  of  carbonic 
acid  and  water  into  their  elements,  car- 
bon and  hydrogen,  and  by  their  sub- 
sequent combination  through  feebler 
chemical  forces  into  sugar,  starch,  etc., 
which  substances  through  a  new  com- 
bustion are  again  turned  into  carbonic 
acid  and  water.  The  natural  forces 
cannot  spontaneously  undertake  these 
transformations  that  only  take  place 
because  of  artificial  arrangements.  The 
processes  of  nature  go  in  the  entirely 
opposite  direction,  as  we  have  seen. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  reduction  of 
carbonic  acid  and  water  is  done 
through  the  direct  assistance  of  liv- 
ing beings.  From  the  sun  they  take 
their  power.  But  how  ineffective  the 
sun  would  be,  left  to  itself,  is  seen 
already  by  the  fact  that  carbonic  acid 
is  disintegrated  at  a  temperature  of 
1300°    C.    and    water    only    at    1500°. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         115 

Products  of  art  must  be  resorted  to, 
and  we  know  that  by  lenses,  burning 
mirrors,  photograpliie  cameras  and  the 
like  the  sun  may  be  forced  to  accom- 
plish results  that  otherwise  would  be 
impossible.  Such  artificial  apparatus, 
then,  must  be  the  chlorophyll  granules 
in  the  cells.  More  strikingly  yet,  these 
organs  of  the  cell  may  be  compared  to 
our  blast-furnaces,  as  it  is  just  in  the 
chlorophyll  granules  that  the  reduction 
of  carbonic  acid  and  water,  according 
to  science,  takes  place.  If  these  artifi- 
cial devices,  invented  and  constructed 
by  the  lower  living  units  that  consti- 
tute the  cell,  did  not  exist,  the  sun 
might  shine  throughout  eternity  on 
water  and  carbonic  acid  without  pro- 
ducing  organic   building   material. 

This  material  is  and  must  be  the 
product  of  art.  If  the  forces  of  in- 
organic nature  spontaneously  produced 
sugar,  starch,  etc.,  these  substances 
must  have  the  same  quality  as  our 
rocks,  minerals,  etc.,  of  being  products 
of   combustion,   which   in   such   a   sup- 


116  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

posed  case,  perhaps,  would  be  made 
burnable  if  transformed  into  water  and 
carbonic  acid.  We  would  obtain  a  cre- 
ation turned  upside  down  and  analo- 
gous to  a  world  where  the  bodies  we 
now  use  as  weights  would  remain  un- 
supported at  certain  distances  from  our 
earth.  If  we  were  to  use  such  a  body 
as  a  weight  in  a  clock,  we  would  have 
to  wind  it  down  instead  of  up. 

Because  organic  compounds  are 
products  of  art,  living  beings  find  them- 
selves obliged  to  direct  the  physical 
forces  to  destroy  these  compounds  or 
restore  them  to  their  inorganic  state 
more  speedily  than  these  forces  would 
have  done  if  left  unaided.  The  proc- 
esses of  decay,  performed  by  micro- 
organisms, are  as  necessary  in  the 
economy  of  life  as  the  reverse  proc- 
esses. Otherwise  the  earth  would 
soon  be  so  covered  by  corpses  that  life 
must  cease  simply  for  lack  of  inorganic 
raw  material.  It  is  true  that  we  might 
imagine  living  beings  as  adapting  their 
organization  to  this  condition  and  for 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         117 

some    time    directly    utilizing    the    ac- 
cumulated   stores    of    organic    matter; 
but   such   periodical   interruptions   and 
changes  would   disturb   the   continuity 
of  life's  evolution.    To  avoid  this,  there 
is  no  way  open  to  restore  equilibrium 
except  the  one  in  which  it  is  now  done. 
No   effect,   whatever   its   nature,   can 
exist  without  cause;  and  further,  every 
effect  must  have  a  sufficient  cause.     If, 
therefore,     we    have    established    that 
natural    forces    can    no    more    produce 
organisms  than  steam  engines,  we  have 
also    proved    that   these   things   would 
never  have  come  into  existence  if  the 
organic  forces  had  been  left  to  them- 
selves.     Neither  organisms  nor  engines 
would    exist,    because    they    have    no 
cause  in  the  material  world.    The  prod- 
ucts of  art  are  due  not  only  to  other 
causes,    but   the    relationship    between 
cause     and     effect     is     also     different 
with   them   from  what   it  is   with   the 
products  of  nature.     Every  product  of 
nature  has  its  cause  in  a  previous  con- 
dition of  matter.     The  cause  goes  be- 


118  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

fore  and  the  effect  comes  after  in  time. 
The  connection  between  cause  and  ef- 
fect is  so  intimate  and  complete  with 
regard  to  natural  products,  that  we  may 
trace  the  series  of  occurrences  back- 
ward and  forward  in  time  without 
other  limitations  than  those  imposed 
by  a  deficient  knowledge  of  the  quali- 
ties of  matter.  Such  a  connection  be- 
tween cause  and  effect  has  been  termed 
mechanical  causality,  which  reigns 
without  exception  in  the  material 
world. 

Of  entirely  different  kind  and  nature 
is  the  series  of  causes  pertaining  to 
the  production  of  objects  of  art.  In 
their  capacity  of  purpose  they  are 
themselves  the  physical  cause  of  all 
the  work  that  precedes  their  birth. 
When  the  product  of  art  is  finally 
ready,  the  effect  has  then  gone  before 
the  cause.  Such  a  connection  is  called 
teleological  causality  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  the  mechanical  one,  where  the 
cause  always  precedes  the  effect. 

But  although  the  product  of  art  is 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         119 


the  nearest  cause  of  its  own  produc- 
tion, it  is  not  the  primary  one;  it  is 
itself  the  result,  not  of  a  cause  to  be 
found  in  the  material  world,  but  of  a 
foreign  interference  in  the  mechanical 
causality,  and  points  therefore  to  a 
supernatural  ground  which,  by  a  closer 
investigation,  will  be  found  identical 
with  a  living  will.  The  will  feels  the 
want  of  other  things  than  those  which 
natural  forces  can  spontaneously  pro- 
duce. Natural  products  act  as  incen,- 
tives  on  the  will,  spur  it  to  break 
through  mechanical  causality  so  that 
physical  laws  by  a  judicious  guidance 
may  be  forced  to  produce  artificial 
products  that  better  satisfy  the  desires 
of  the  will.  If  natural  laws  could  com- 
prehend and  judge  these  things,  they 
would  consider  them  all  as  miracles, 
whereas,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
will,  they  are  so  much  the  more  natural 
as  they  are  exact  expressions  of  the 
needs  and  desires  of  the  will. 

But  not  only  the  order  of  cause  and 
effect,  even  the  tie  between  the  two  is 


120  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

entirely  different  in  teleological  causal- 
ity from  that  in  mechanical.  While 
the  natural  product  is  an  effect  that 
cannot  fail  to  appear,  the  product  of 
art,  on  the  contrary,  is  an  effect  that 
primarily  never  could  be  expected,  be- 
cause it  has  no  cause  in  the  material 
world;  but  further,  if  it  is  forthcoming, 
the  tie  between  cause  and  effect  is  so 
loose  that  such  a  product  may  be  left 
and  will  remain  in  any  stage  of  its 
production.  It  may  be  just  commenced, 
half  ready,  or  nearly  completed;  be 
better  or  worse,  be  a  failure,  and  so 
on,  whereas  the  natural  product  springs 
forth  of  physical  necessity  from  its 
cause  and  never  can  be  different  from 
what  it  is. 

Wills  and  physical  forces  then  stand 
against  each  other  as  two  fundamen- 
tally and  radically  different  causes.  A 
will  may  neglect  to  do  what  it  ought 
to,  may  be  idle,  industrious,  undecided; 
a  physical  force  cannot  leave  undone 
what  it  has  to  do,  can  never  be  called 
idle,  industrious  or  undecided. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         121 

That  man  is  able  to  produce  objects 
of  art  we  have  sufficient  evidence  in 
material  invention,  from  the  simple 
stone-ax  up  to  the  most  complicated 
machines.  But  if  man  can  create  prod- 
ucts of  art  he  must  himself  be  a  super- 
natural cause,  as  natural  products  pro- 
duce nothing  but  their  own  kind.  And 
not  only  he  but  also  the  beings  that 
build  up  his  organism  must  be  super- 
natural causes,  as  we  have  seen  that 
all  organic  matter  ipso  facto  are  prod- 
ucts of  art. 

In  all  these  different  forms  and  spe- 
cies of  products  of  art  we  possess, 
therefore,  boundless  masses  of  obvious 
and  visible  evidence  that  life  is  not  a 
quality  of  matter.  In  order  to  break 
through  the  mechanical  causality  and 
introduce  into  the  material  world  ef- 
fects which  never  could  be  spontane- 
ously forthcoming,  life  must  have  a 
supernatural  origin,  must  be  a  prin- 
ciple independent  of  matter. 

By  resuming  the  demonstration  that 
the    materialists    had    broken    off,    we 


122  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

arrive  therefore  at  the  same  conclu- 
sion that  natural  science  had  already 
drawn  before  from  external  observa- 
tion, and  with  which  the  question  of 
the  nature  of  life-force  is  inseparably 
connected.  The  qualities  of  matter 
itself  demonstrate  clearly  that  spon- 
taneous generation  never  has  been,  is 
not  and  never  will  be  possible,  and  the 
tremendous  labor  spent  during  cen- 
turies to  prove  this  by  external  ob- 
servation seems  almost  a  waste  of  time. 
We  might  as  well  pick  out  a  table  full 
of  stones  and  sit  down  expecting  some 
of  them  to  undertake  a  flight  around 
the  room,  as  to  expect  living  substance 
to  come  forth  spontaneously  from  dead 
matter.  The  intrinsic  qualities  of  mat- 
ter tell  us  that  only  hope  for  the 
former  occurrence  can  warrant  faith 
in  the  latter. 

We  thus  consider  it  demonstrated 
that  Harvey's  formula  is  a  universal 
natural  law  and  we  may  now  draw  its 
logical  consequences:  Life  is  not  a 
material  force;  no  living  being  can  there- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         123 

fore  arise  from  dead  matter;  all  life  has 
a  supernatural  origin  in  a  higher  imma- 
terial world. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Soul  and  the  Cells. 

LIVING  beings  are  alive  because  the 
very  substance  in  them  is  living. 
Life  belongs  to  this  substance  exactly 
as  materiality  belongs  to  matter.  As 
living  substance  can  exist  only  in  the 
form  of  living  individuals,  all  living 
beings  fall  outside  the  limitations  of 
time  and  possess  individual  immortal- 
ity vrithout  exception.  The  cell,  there- 
fore, is  as  immortal  as  man.  But  if  this 
is  the  case,  the  fact  that  the  duration 
of  the  earthly  life  of  man  is  different 
from  that  of  the  cell  must  now  at  last 
appear  in  its  full  significance.  During 
man's  life  a  series  of  cell-generations 
have  lived,  acted  and  disappeared,  al- 
though the  phenomenon  here,  as  in  the 
body  of  society,  passes  comparatively 
unnoticed  because  the  cell  is  invisible 
to   the   naked   eye.     Of  course  we  ob- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         125 

serve  a  daily  growth  of  nails,  hair  and 
of  the  whole  outer  skin.  This  outer 
layer  consists  exclusively  of  dead  cells, 
which  daily  scale  off  by  the  millions 
through  wear,  washing  or  otherwise, 
and  are  replaced  by  other  dying  cells 
from  the  inner  living  tissues.  The  same 
process  of  dying  and  renewal  takes 
place  in  the  organs  of  the  cell.  As 
man's  lifetime  often  depends  on  the 
trade  he  has  chosen,  so  it  is  with  the 
cells  in  his  organism.  Those  that  per- 
form heavy  work,  as  for  instance 
glandular  cells,  often  die  in  the  mo- 
ment their  mission  is  filled.  This  proc- 
ess commences  even  in  the  individu- 
al's embryonic  state.  With  lower  ani- 
mals, whose  generation  takes  place 
outside  the  mother-body,  we  can  often 
observe  with  the  naked  eye  how  whole 
organs  normally  die  and  disappear. 

If  the  cells  as  well  as  men  are  im- 
mortal beings,  the  question  naturally 
arises:  what  becomes  of  these  inces- 
santly dying  cell  generations?  The  an- 
swer must   necessarily  be  apparent  if 


126  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

we  can  show,  First,  that  the  tie  between 
the  soul  and  the  cells  is  indissoluble  so 
that  man's  organism,  i.  e.,  his  spiritual 
body,  consists  of  the  same  cell-individuals 
in  a  future  life  as  here  in  time;  Second, 
that  the  cells  at  the  same  time  are  self- 
existent  and  so  independent  of  the  soul, 
that  in  a  future  existence  also,  as  here  in 
time,  they  can  and  must  build  up  man's 
organism  independently. 

In  such  case  no  reason  can  be  ad- 
vanced that  would  prevent  the  dying 
cell-generations  from  immediately  aris- 
ing to  a  new  and  higher  evolution, 
which,  as  we  will  endeavor  to  prove, 
must  be  identical  with  the  upbuilding 
of  the  higher,  transfigured  body  which 
man  shall  possess  in  a  future  life.  This 
form  of  resurrection  must  be  common 
to  all  organisms  because  they  are  all 
built  according  to  the  same  general 
plan  and  are  consequently  subject  to 
the  same  general  process  of  evolution. 
Men  are  themselves  the  cells  in  another 
higher  organism,  humanity,  which  en- 
tity cannot  rise  to  a  richer  life  in  an- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         127 

other  world  otherwise  than  through  its 
upbuilding  by  the  dying  human  gen- 
erations under  the  new  conditions  that 
exist  over  there. 

As  a  preliminary  experiment  in  order 
to  find  out  if  the  soul  is  indispensable 
to  the  life  of  the  organism,  or  if  the 
cells  possibly  might  do  without  the 
soul,  we  may  appropriately  remove  the 
latter  from  an  organism  and  thus  di- 
rectly observe  the  importance  of  the 
soul  for  the  cells. 

But  how  can  this  be  done,  or  at  least, 
how  may  we  deprive  the  organism  of 
all  influence  from  the  soul?  The 
physiologists  have  proved  the  possibil- 
ity of  such  an  experiment.  It  is  fully 
established  that  the  soul  communicates 
with  the  body  through  the  brain  proper, 
or  the  cerebrum,  and  experience  shows 
that  this  important  organ  may  be  re- 
moved and  yet  the  body  continue  to 
live.  We  will  here  give  briefly  the  re- 
sults of  such  experiments  made  with 
animals. 

If  the  brain  be  removed  from  a  dove 


128  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

or  a  hen,  the  bird  often  recovers  from 
the  radical  operation  and  may  remain 
alive  for  months  and  even  years.  But 
the  dove  has  become  an  entirely  differ- 
ent being.  Immobile  she  sits  on  the 
same  place.  If  she  were  not  heard  to 
breathe  she  might  be  taken  for  a 
stuffed  bird.  She  lacks  ability  to  judge 
her  position  and  resembles  a  living 
machine  that  breathes,  and  swallows 
the  food  brought  into  her  bill.  The 
higher  qualities  of  the  do^'e  are  entirely 
lost.  She  shows  no  signs  of  fear  and 
is  incapable  of  initiative.  She  remains 
sitting  in  the  same  place  and  will  not 
even  fly  down  from  small  heights.  If 
thrown  into  the  air,  she  flies  until  her 
wings  are  tired  or  until  she  strikes  an 
obstacle  that  she  makes  no  effort  to 
avoid.  From  the  first  day  she  must  be 
fed  artificially,  but  she  digests  her 
food  as  usual.  The  heart,  the  circula- 
tion of  the  blood,  the  respiration,  in 
short,  all  the  vegetative  functions  of 
life  continue  regularly.     Such  a  state 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         129 

has  been  characterized  by  Flourens  as 
a  continuous  sleep  without  dreams. 

The  same  observations  have  been 
made  with  regard  to  dogs  that  have 
been  deprived  of  a  large  part  of  the 
brain. 

With  lowered  head  and  dead  eyes, 
such  a  dog  moves  about  indifferent  to 
everything  taking  place  around  him. 
He  shows  no  signs  of  fear,  envy  or  joy. 
Neither  threats  nor  friendly  speech  im- 
press him.  He  never  partakes  in  the 
barking  of  other  dogs  and  is,  as  a  rule, 
mute.  Only  should  he  be  hungry  he 
might  set  up  a  howl.  Although  indif- 
ferent to  the  strongest  light  or  sound, 
he  is  not  entirely  blind  or  deaf.  At 
the  stronger  sounds  he  might  move  his 
head  slightly.  All  higher  life  is  lost, 
but  he  digests  his  food  and  all  vegeta- 
tive functions  continue  just  as  regular- 
ly as  if  he  were  in  normal  condition. 

Observation  of  the  effect  of  certain  ac- 
cidents and  diseases  intimates  that  man 
forms  no  exception  but  that  the  same 


130         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

results  would  probably  be  obtained 
from  similar  experiments  with  him. 
Though  such  experiments  are  out  of 
the  question,  we  can,  however,  in  many 
different  ways  ascertain  that  the  soul 
of  man  is  also  inactive  in  the  vegeta- 
tive functions  of  his  organism.  In 
earliest  childhood  this  is  perfectly  evi- 
dent. To  possess  a  soul  that  has  no 
functions  is,  as  far  as  the  result  is  con- 
cerned, identical  with  possessing  no 
soul. 

If  we  observe  a  child  during  the  very 
earliest  period  of  its  life  we  will  find 
that  it  behaves  essentially  just  as  the 
animals  referred  to  above.  Even  the 
child  remains  in  the  position  it  is  given 
and  is  unable  to  comprehend  what 
happens  around  him.  The  child  would 
likewise  starve  to  death  unless  food 
were  brought  to  his  mouth,  but  he 
swallows  and  digests  the  nourishment 
normally.  The  movements  of  the  heart, 
the  circulation  of  the  blood  and  respir- 
ation all  take  place  as  normally  as 
with   the  fully   developed   man   during 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         131 

sleep  when  his  soul  also  ceases  to  func- 
tion. 

The  fact  that  the  vegetative  proc- 
esses of  the  organism  are  not  gov- 
erned and  controlled  by  the  soul  may 
be  observed  by  anyone  also  during  his 
conscious  state.  In  regard  to  respira- 
tion we  may  repress  it  only  for  a  few 
minutes.  A  command  is  soon  given  by 
certain  cells  in  the  central  nerve-sys- 
tem which  against  the  soul's  will  brings 
the  organ  in  question  into  action.  Ex- 
perience tells  us  that  strong  agitations 
generally  disturb  the  vegetative  proc- 
esses. Sudden  fear,  for  instance,  ac- 
celerates the  heart's  motion.  Therefore 
these  processes  take  place  more  evenly 
with  animals  deprived  of  their  brain 
just  because  disturbing  influences  from 
the  soul  are  then  impossible. 

Thus  it  is  certain  beyond  doubt  that 
the  cells  not  only  execute  but  regulate 
and  control  through  the  central  nerve- 
system  a  multitude  of  functions  in 
which  the  soul  does  not  take  part. 
But  just  as  certain  it  is  that  there  are 


132         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

many  functions  which  the  cells  could 
not  perform  without  the  co-operation 
of  the  soul.  Vision,  hearing,  smelling, 
tasting  and  feeling  would  be  entirely 
meaningless  to  the  cells  without  the 
aid  of  the  soul.  The  same  is  the  case 
in  a  high  degree  with  the  motions  of 
the  body  which  also  require  such  a 
higher  guidance.  The  dove  could  fly, 
the  dog  walk,  and  so  forth,  but  the 
motions  were  relatively  purposeless. 
The  predetermined  plan  was  lacking. 
The  cells  could  assimilate  the  food, 
when  brought  into  the  body,  but  they 
could  not  search  it  in  nature.  Such 
action  requires  a  power  of  combination 
that  exceeds  their  measure  of  intelli- 
gence. 

We  see  consequently  that  the  cells 
may  do  without  the  soul  in  such  func- 
tions as  are  not  related  to  the  exterior 
world  comprehensible  through  our 
senses.  Here  they  need  the  guidance 
of  a  higher,  more  developed  intelli- 
gence. In  the  outside  world  with  its 
more  complicated  relations,  the  soul  is 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.        133 


to  the  cells  very  nearly  what  we  mean 
by  the  word  Providence.  The  soul  per- 
forms, in  the  interest  of  the  cells,  such 
a  higher,  regulating  and  guiding  func- 
tion. 

The  organism,  then,  is  divided  into 
two   sections,    separated   by   a   sharply 
defined  boundary.    As  independent  and 
autocratic   as  the   cells  are  in   one   of 
them,   is  the  soul  in  the  other.     This 
bisection     in     two     widely     separated 
spheres  is  in  itself  remarkable,  but  may 
be  explained,  if  we  remember  that  the 
organism  is  an  individual  composed  of 
lower     individuals.      As     different     as 
these  classes  of  individuals  are  in  their 
nature  and  faculties,  equally  incongru- 
ous are  also  the  realms  in  which  they 
dwell.     The  cells   move  in  the   atomic 
and    molecular    world.      To    them    the 
molecules    and    atoms    appear    with    a 
clearness  comparable  to  the  plainness 
with  which  the  exterior  world  reveals 
itself  to  us.    It  is  natural  then  that  the 
cells  attend  to  the  vegetative  functions 
of  the  organism  which  just  fall  within 


134         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

their  sphere  of  life,  a  sphere  of  which 
the  soul  can  obtain  knowledge  only 
indirectly  by  way  of  deductions. 
Equally  obvious  it  is  that  only  the  soul 
can  employ  the  organs  of  the  body, 
the  functions  of  which  fall  within  the 
visible  world. 

We  have  now  endeavored  to  obtain 
an  understanding  of  the  importance  of 
the  soul  to  the  cells  by  depriving  the 
latter  of  the  direct  influence  of  the 
former.  This  resulted  from  the  re- 
moval of  the  brain,  the  organ  by  which 
the  soul  more  directly  expresses  itself. 
But  the  soul  is  not  actually  removed 
from  the  body.  It  still  remains  in  the 
whole  cell-mass.  The  brain  itself  con- 
sists of  cells,  in  which  the  soul  is  not 
present  except  as  in  all  the  other  cells. 
The  difference  is  only  that  the  brain- 
cells  are  developed  for  the  functions  of 
thought,  whereas  the  cells  in  the  other 
organs  are  intended  for  their  specific 
purposes.  In  order  to  remove  the  soul 
from  the  body  we  must  remove  the  life 
from  every  cell.     The  soul,   as  we  in- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         135 

iend  to  show,  is  inseparably  connected 
with  every  particular  cell-individual. 
But  in  order  to  understand  how  the 
cells  may  be  at  once  independent  of, 
and  yet  intimately  united  with  the 
soul,  we  must  first  know  what  an  or- 
ganism really  is.  Its  nature  and  funda- 
mental idea  is  the  only  thing  that  can 
explain  this  remarkable  relationship. 
But  it  is  just  here  as  to  the  essential 
qualities  of  an  organism  that  the  con- 
ceptions are  generally  very  dim  and 
vague. 

Commonly  the  organism  is  thought 
of  as  a  very  complicated  mechanism 
whose  members  and  organs  mutually 
depend  upon  each  other.  The  organ- 
ism is  what  the  word  implies,  a  tool. 
But  every  tool  is  intended  for  some- 
body's use.  Who  this  one  is,  is  not 
said,  simply  because  it  is  considered 
self-evident.  If  it  be  a  human  organ- 
ism, it  is  obviously  the  man  who  uses 
it;  if  it  be  an  animal  organism,  it  is 
the  animal,  and  so  on.  That  this  is  a 
truth,    cannot   be   denied;    but   still   it 


136         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

expresses  only  half  the  truth  and 
scarcely  that.  Every  organic  body  is 
used  directly  by  the  individuals  that 
form  its  building  material.  The  human 
organism  is  a  society  of  cells,  and  it  is 
these  latter  that  first  of  all  use  the 
body's  organs  for  their  purposes.  But 
so  dominating  are  the  old  ideas  about 
the  body,  that  even  the  cytologists 
themselves  have  not  been  able  to  shake 
them  off.  The  cells  are  continually 
studied  from  man's  point  of  view,  but 
what  man  may  be  from  the  cell's  point  of 
view  is  never  thought  of. 

We  do  not  hereby  deny  all  justifica- 
tion to  the  old  conception.  The  body 
is  also  an  organ  for  the  soul.  The  lat- 
ter, as  experience  shows,  uses  the  body 
for  its  own  specific  purposes.  But  this 
takes  place  only  to  a  somewhat  limited 
extent.  The  incomparably  larger  part 
of  the  soul's  work,  cares,  and  endeav- 
ors, is  devoted  to  finding  means  to 
satisfy  bodily  wants.  But  so  far  as  the 
soul  provides  for  the  necessities  of  the 
body,   it   acts   as   organ   for  the   cells. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         137 

When  man  believes  that  he  is  running 
his  own  errands,  he  is  in  reality  carry- 
ing out  the  missions  of  those  beings 
that  compose  his  body.  These  latter 
demand  for  their  purposes,  if  not  all, 
yet  at  least  the  largest  part  of  all  the 
work  the  soul  performs  in  this  world. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Fundamental  Qualities  of  an 
Organism. 

IN  ORDER  to  illustrate  the  funda- 
mental characteristics  of  an  organic 
structure  in  general,  we  will  begin  with 
comparing  it  with  what  it  most  resem- 
bles, namely,  a  complicated  mechan- 
ism. The  likeness  is  so  striking  that 
the  very  dissimilarities  become  in- 
structive. 

First  of  all  we  notice  the  parts  of 
which  the  machine  is  composed.  What 
these  parts  are  to  the  machine  the 
members  and  organs  are  to  the  organ- 
ism. Every  part,  like  every  organ,  has 
a  certain  duty  to  perform  which  it  in- 
cessantly repeats.  The  work  of  the 
machine  is  divided  among  the  parts  as 
that  of  the  organism  among  the  organs. 
As  the  organ,  so  the  part  of  the  ma- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         139 

chine  can  do  its  share  only  when  in 
right  position  and  in  right  order. 

The  most  obvious  similarities  are  now 
exhausted.  The  parts  of  the  machine 
are  actuated  by  external,  but  the  or- 
gans by  internal,  forces.  The  organism 
is  a  living  machine.  No  organism, 
whether  organic  or  mechanic,  labors  for 
its  own  sake.  Every  such  apparatus 
exists  for  somebody's  use.  But  while 
those  that  employ  a  machine  stand  in 
outer  relation  to  the  same,  those  who 
utilize  an  organism  are  beings  that 
themselves  constitute  the  organic  ma- 
chine-parts. These  are  not  composed 
of  dead  atoms,  but  of  living  individu- 
als. The  organism  is  a  society  which 
puts  the  organic  machinery  into  serv- 
ice. It  is  the  social  tie  that  connects 
the  individuals  which  otherwise  would 
be  a  multitude  of  isolated  beings. 

In  all  organisms  there  are  as  many 
organs  as  actual  wants  among  the  in- 
dividuals that  compose  it.  Because 
these  individuals  are  kindred,  they  have 
common  needs  and  are  therefore  able 


140         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

to  use  the  same  organ.  Every  partic- 
ular individual  requires  the  assistance 
of  all  the  organs  and  must  therefore 
stand  in  such  relation  to  them  all  that 
he  can  utilize  the  work  of  any  one. 
But  he  himself  enters  as  a  working 
member  only  in  one  organ,  whose  work 
is  the  only  one  he  can  immediately 
press  into  his  service,  and  even  this 
only  in  certain  cases.  All  other  organs 
stand  in  more  or  less  distant  relation 
to  him.  How,  then,  will  he  be  able  to 
utilize  them?  Only  so  that  the  organs 
make  themselves  present  in  his  own 
organ,  and,  so  to  speak,  reach  him  their 
different  products.  Like  every  citizen 
in  a  community,  each  organ  ought  to 
have  a  system  of  circulation  through- 
out all  the  other  organs  to  transfer  the 
results  of  its  work  where  it  is  needed. 
If,  however,  each  organ  were  provided 
with  such  a  distribution  agency  this 
would  be  an  extravagance  inconsistent 
with  the  concentration  of  forces  that 
the  very  idea  of  an  organism  implies. 
Instead  of  many  such  systems  we  find 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         141 

therefore  in  every  organism  but  one, 
whose  sole  purpose  is  to  circulate  the 
products  of  the  various  organs,  and 
thus,  so  to  speak,  make  each  organ 
represented  in  every  part  of  the  whole 
community.  We  find  that  every  or- 
ganic building  is  constructed  in  this 
way  to  suit  the  individuals  that  form 
its  building-material,  and  so  of  course 
it  must  be,  since  it  was  built  for  that 
purpose  by  the  same  individuals. 

The  consequence  is  that  the  degree 
of  development  an  organism  possesses 
is  closely  related  to  the  state  of  evolu- 
tion reached  by  the  individuals  which 
constitute  it.  The  more  perfected  the 
organism,  the  higher  and  more  devel- 
oped also  are  the  necessities  it  is  able 
to  satisfy. 

The  way  in  which  independent  liv- 
ing beings  build  such  an  organic  ma- 
chine may  be  defined  as  "division  of 
labor."  Every  organism  is  a  union, 
founded  on  the  division  of  labor,  be- 
tween a  multitude  of  kindred  individu- 
als which  thus  combine  their  isolated* 


142         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

forces.  But  a  large  mass  of  individuals 
cannot  merge  at  once  into  an  all-em- 
bracing entity.  This  result  can  only  be 
reached  by  a  series  of  higher  and  lower 
intermediary  units,  each  defined  by  its 
particular  share  of  the  total  labor. 

A  closer  study  of  the  organisms  will 
show  that  they  all  without  exception 
are  composed  in  this  way. 

The  cells  in  any  organism  in  nature 
combine  into  higher  and  higher  units 
as  follows: 

The  primary  unions  of  the  cells  are 
the  tissues,  where  all  the  cells  perform 
the  same  function  in  the  same  way. 
Of  these  tissues  is  formed  the  nearest 
higher  unit,  the  organ.  As  the  tissue 
was  a  union  of  cells,  the  organ  is  a 
union  of  tissues.  Then  we  have  a  sys- 
tem of  organs.  To  each  such  higher 
system  a  more  comprehensive  function 
is  assigned.  By  distributing  the  tota) 
labor  among  the  different  systems 
these  merge  into  the  organism  which 
unites    the    whole    cell-mass    into    one 


1 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         143 

well-organized  community  of  working 
cell-individuals. 

Human  society  is  similarly  composed. 
The  difference  is  only  that  in  one  case 
the  citizens  are  cells,  and  in  the  other 
they  are  men.  Of  an  organism  in  na- 
ture we  only  see  the  members  and  or- 
gans, but  not  the  cells;  in  human  so- 
ciety, on  the  other  hand,  we  only  ob- 
serve the  cells  or  the  human  individual, 
but  not  the  body  of  society.  The  cells 
combine  into  a  solid  body;  humanity 
is  spread  over  a  surface.  Human  in- 
dividuals, because  of  their  greater  per- 
fection, move  in  space  more  freely  and 
independently  of  each  other  than  do 
the  cells  in  their  realm.  These  and 
other  differences  do  not,  however,  dis- 
turb the  general  organic  structure. 
This  has  everywhere  the  same  funda- 
mental qualities.  Society  is  essentially 
only  a  vastly  enlarged  copy  of  the  same 
model  that  man  traces  in  his  own  bod- 
ily organism. 

Through  a  similar  division  of  labor 
the    work    of    the    community    is    split 


144         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

into  trades,  corresponding  to  the  tis- 
sues in  the  natural  organism.  As  the 
cells  in  one  tissue,  so  the  men  in  one 
trade  are  incessantly  occupied  with  the 
same  work.  Out  of  several  trades  are 
formed  the  social  organs.  A  social 
organ  consequently  is  a  certain  com- 
munity or  district  performing  a  certain 
part  of  an  industry.  This  has  been 
called  "territorial  division  of  labor." 
Several  such  communities  make  up  an 
organ-system  or  an  industry.  A  few 
such  larger  units  merge  into  the  single 
unit,  the  entire  mass  of  human  indi- 
viduals as  a  whole. 

The  cells  of  the  individuals  in  an  or- 
ganism are  consequently  at  once  build- 
ing-material and  builders,  and  in  their 
latter  capacity  are  endowed  with  wants 
and  aspirations  that  with  natural  ne- 
cessity force  them  to  organization  with- 
out conscious  plan  or  purpose.  Neces- 
sity is  the  teacher  that  tells  them  how 
to  organize.  Some  speak  of  a  social 
instinct  that  man  does  or  should  pos- 
sess; but  its  existence  has  never  been 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         145 

shown.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  only  by 
those  needs  that  can  only  be  satisfied 
by  a  community  that  men  are  driven 
to  unite  socially.  Similarly  with  the 
cells.  Only  by  building  up  an  organ- 
ism are  they  able  to  satisfy  their  com- 
mon wants.  What  society  is  to  human 
individuals,  the  natural  organism  is 
to  the  cells.  No  trade  or  industry  can 
be  found  in  the  state  that  does  not; 
serve  to  provide  for  some  common  want 
of  the  people,  and  no  tissue  nor  organ 
exists  in  the  natural  organism  but  for 
satisfying  collective  needs  of  the  cells. 
These  collective  needs  are  at  the  same 
time  the  higher  needs  of  the  individu- 
als. The  organism  provides  the  power 
that  the  isolated  individual  does  not 
possess.  Organization  allows  that  spe- 
cializing of  effort  which  so  essentially 
contributes  to  the  productivity  of  la- 
bor. The  more  limited  the  operations 
each  individual  has  to  perform,  the 
more  rapidly  and  perfectly  are  they 
done. 

Although  the  cell   lives   in   a   world 


146         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

inaccessible  to  our  immediate  compre- 
hension, we  still  possess  means  to  as- 
certain that  it  has  the  same  funda- 
mental qualities  as  man.  We  observe 
manifestations  of  life  in  the  cell  corre 
sponding  to  those  of  sensitivity,  feeling 
and  will-power  in  man.  The  cell's  com- 
prehending faculty  has  been  termed  ir- 
ritability and  its  power  of  action  spon- 
taneity. From  certain  physiological 
phenomena  the  conclusion  has  also 
been  drawn  that  the  cell  likewise  pos- 
sesses memory. 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  Organic  Relationship  Between  the 
Soul  and  the  Cells. 

HITHERTO  only  little  study  has 
been  given  to  the  spiritual  quali- 
ties of  the  cells,  and  such  investiga- 
tions must  always  meet  with  certain 
insurmountable  difficulties.  The  reason 
is  that  we  only  judge  others  by  our- 
selves and  we  are  therefore  unable  to 
understand  the  spiritual  life  of  any  be- 
ing that  is  not  one  of  our  kin. 

If  a  being  stands  higher  or  lower 
than  ourselves  its  spiritual  experi- 
ences, if  not  entirely  different  from 
ours,  are  at  least  limited  and  modified 
by  the  being's  own  power  of  compre- 
hension. If,  however,  these  beings 
show  manifestations  of  life  that  we  un- 
derstand, we  must  conclude  that  their 
spiritual  or  mental  life  is  correspond- 
ingly active. 


148         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

Such  a  position  we  occupy  with  re- 
gard to  the  beings  called  cells.  From 
the  result  of  their  activities  we  con- 
clude that  they,  like  men,  are  en- 
dowed with  aspirations  capable  of  the 
highest  conceivable  evolution.  Whad 
economic  necessities  are  to  man,  the 
arterial  blood  is  to  the  cell.  The  blood 
is  an  artificial  product  which  nature 
no  more  gives  to  the  cell  than  it  gi\es 
clothes,  food,  houses  and  the  like  to 
man.  Nature  provides  the  raw  mate- 
rial and  cell  and  man  alike  must  learn 
how  to  adapt  it  for  the  necessities  of 
life.  This  operation,  however,  involves 
great  difficulties.  All  such  artificial 
products  stand  in  inverse  proportion 
to  the  power  of  the  individual.  The 
more  perfect  they  are  the  more  impos- 
sible it  is  for  the  individual  to  produce 
them.  Only  as  citizens  in  a  commu- 
nity, that  is,  through  organization,  are 
the  individuals  able  to  produce  such 
products  as  exceed  their  isolated  forces. 

Although  we  cannot  comprehend  the 
inner  life  of  the  cell,  nor  the  world  in 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         149 

which  it  dwells,  we  are  able  to  judge, 
from  the  wonderful  perfectness  of  the 
organisms  built  by  cells,  that  they  have 
reached  in  their  world  and  measured 
by  their  power  a  higher  state  of  de- 
velopment than  man.  It  is  not  only 
possible  but  highly  probable  that  the 
human  individuals  will  sometime  build 
an  organism  of  the  same  perfectness, 
but  as  yet  they  have  not  done  so.  The 
cells  have  long  ago  passed  the  stage 
of  organization  that  characterizes  hu- 
man society  at  present. 

From  the  fact  that  the  first  purpose 
of  every  organic  structure  is  to  serve 
the  individuals  of  which  it  is  composed, 
it  follows  that  nobody,  except  these 
same  individuals,  can  build  the  organ- 
ism in  question.  Independently  the 
cells  build  the  human  body  here  in 
time  and  they  must  do  the  same  in  the 
future  life.  The  organism  cannot  exist 
in  other  surroundings  than  those  for 
which  its  organs  are  adapted.  But  this 
adaptation  can  only  be  effected  by  the 
individuals  that  form  the  building  ma- 


150         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

terial  of  the  organs,  because  the  organs 
just  express  their  relations  to  the  world 
in  which  they  exist.  Thus  it  follows 
of  necessity  that  man's  resurrection  or 
transition  from  one  world  to  another 
must  be  identical  with  the  dying  cells' 
upbuilding  of  that  organism  which  man 
shall  possess  in  a  future  life.  Any 
other  form  of  resurrection  is  neither 
possible  nor  conceivable.  It  is  further 
confirmed  by  the  relation  that  exists 
between  the  soul  and  the  cells.  This 
relationship,  as  we  intend  to  show,  is 
such  that  the  soul  receives  its  entire 
individuality,  all  its  forces  and  facul- 
ties, from  the  cell-organism,  the  previ- 
ous resurrection  of  which  therefore  is 
an  indispensable  condition  for  man's 
own  rise  to  another  life. 

If  the  mass  of  a  body  is  living  the 
body  itself  is  alive.  The  whole  receives 
its  qualities  from  its  elementary  com- 
ponents. The  organism  itself  is  a  living 
being.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the 
building  material  the  organism  is  a  so- 
ciety composed  of  independently  living 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         151 

individuals;  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  whole  again  it  is  a  living  individual 
of  higher  order  than  the  individuals 
that  form  its  social  side.  Man  is  a  cell 
in  the  social  body,  but  is  himself  com- 
posed of  lower  individuals,  which  again 
consist   of  more  primary   units. 

Man,  considered  as  being  possessed 
of  a  body,  is  an  individual  composed  of 
lower  individuals. 

We  now  ask  the  question:  What  is 
the  relation  between  the  higher  indi- 
vidual and  the  lower  ones?  This  is 
only  another  and  more  exact  form  of 
the  question:  What  is  the  relation  be- 
tween the  soul  and  the  body?  Be- 
cause, what  is  the  body  and  what  is 
the  soul?  The  body  is  the  sum  of  the 
lower  individuals,  or,  in  other  words, 
it  is  the  organized  mass  of  cells.  The 
soul,  as  the  feeling,  thinking  and  will- 
ing principle,  is  the  real  spiritual  unity 
in  this  mass,  or  just  what  we  denote 
by  the  word  man,  or  the  higher  in- 
dividual. To  ask,  what  is  the  relation- 
ship between  the  higher  individual  and 


152         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

its  lower  constituents  is  therefore  the 
same  as  to  ask,  what  is  the  relation  be- 
tween the  soul  and  the  cells?  Take 
away  the  latter,  and  there  is  nothing 
left  of  the  body.  The  cells  mean  here 
everything,  and  it  is  to  them  conse- 
quently that  the  soul  can  be  thought 
to  stand  in  relation. 

Formerly  the  problem  was  to  explain 
how  soul  and  body  as  two  substan- 
tially different  entities  were  related  to 
each  other.  They  had  then  nothing  in 
common,  nothing  to  encourage  an  in- 
teraction. If  now  the  relation  holds 
between  the  soul  and  the  cells  we  have 
at  least  commensurable  quantities  to 
deal  with. 

So  far  all  is  well.  But  now  other 
difficulties  arise.  We  can  and  must 
ask,  how  an  interaction  is  possible  be- 
tween the  soul  and  the  cells  even  if 
they  are  formally,  according  to  their 
inner  nature,  kindred  beings?  In  other 
respects  they  are  not  so  separated  and 
different  that  a  spiritual  intercourse  is 
inconceivable.   As  inaccessible  as  is  the 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         153 

inner  life  of  the  cell  to  man,  so  incon- 
tiguous  is  the  spiritual  life  of  man  to 
the  cell.  These  beings  are  so  widely 
separated  that  they  cannot  possibly 
communicate  directly  with  each  other, 
and  yet  in  order  to  establish  a  mental 
or  spiritual  interrelationship,  such 
communication  is  just  what  is  neces- 
sary. 

The  soul  and  the  cells  must  have 
something  in  common  that  is  of  a 
purely  spiritual  nature.  As  the  spirit- 
ual always  is  a  comprehending  sub- 
stance with  nothing  but  comprehen- 
sions as  its  content,  the  something  com- 
mon to  both  must  consequently  have 
the  form  of  common  comprehensions. 
Not  all  comprehensions,  however,  in- 
cite to  activity  and  a  smaller  number 
yet  call  forth  a  co-operation  of  inde- 
pendently living  individuals.  But,  ob- 
viously, the  perceptions  that  concern 
us  now  must  be  of  the  latter  kind.  The 
comprehensions  in  general  that  induce 
a  being  to  activity  we  call  wants  or 
appetites.     In  its  desires  a  being  con- 


154         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

ceives  its  own  ego  in  want  of  one 
thing  or  other.  The  feeling  of  discom- 
fort, accompanying  the  want,  naturally 
causes  the  endeavor  to  satisfy  the 
want  through  a  corresponding  effort. 
The  incitement  to  activity  then  is 
purely  spiritual.  Are  the  soul  of  man 
and  the  cells  subject  to  such  common 
needs,  requiring  their  co-operation?  If 
so,  at  least  their  wants  or  appetites 
cannot  be  wholly  congruous.  Such  are 
only  to  be  found  in  entirely  similar 
beings.  But  different  wants  are  satis- 
fied in  different  ways;  each  requires  a 
carefully  adapted  form  of  activity.  All 
direct,  immediate  co-operation  of  the 
soul  and  the  cells  is  therefore  impos- 
sible. Only  man  with  man,  or  cell  with 
cell,  can  co-operate  in  the  primary  sense 
of  the  word. 

But  an  indirect  working  alliance  is 
not  yet  precluded.  Though  themselves 
different,  the  two  beings  may  compre- 
hend wants  identical  in  substance,  but 
not  in  form.  The  formal  discrepancy 
would  require  not  only  different  modes 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         155 

of  satisfying  the  need,  but  also  differ- 
ent kinds  of  activity;  but  the  common 
substance  might  yet  under  certain  con- 
ditions so  unite  and  interlink  the  dif- 
ferent labors,  that  the  result  would 
show  a  mutual  co-operation. 

We  shall  presently  see  that  the  soul 
and  the  cells  are  so  united  with  each 
other  that  the  connecting  link  is  the  or- 
ganism per  se.  From  the  point  of  view 
of  the  cells  the  organism,  with  its  dif- 
ferent members  and  organs,  was  noth- 
ing but  the  collective  expressions  of  in- 
dividual wants.  Now  man  compre- 
hends as  his  needs  only  the  wants  of 
the  organs;  in  other  words,  the  col- 
lective wants  of  the  cells  are  the  indi- 
vidual wants  of  the  soul.  Experience 
teaches  us  that  the  soul  has  no  direct 
comprehension  of  the  cells,  but  only  of 
their  organic  unions.  To  prove  this  it 
may  be  sufficient  to  point  out  that  be- 
fore the  discovery  of  the  microscope, 
man  knew  absolutely  nothing  of  the 
existence  of  these  beings,  much  less 
that  they  were  the  all-governing  forces 


156         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

in  his  own  body.  But  also  in  other 
ways  we  may  ascertain  that  the  com- 
prehending power  of  the  soul  does  not 
reach  beyond  the  organs.  This  is  ap- 
parent from  the  different  signiflcance 
the  physiological  processes  have  for  the 
soul  and  for  the  cells.  If  we  consider 
the  most  important  of  them  all,  our 
nutrition,  and  ask  ourselves  for  whom 
the  nourishment  is  really  intended,  we 
find  that  it  is  for  the  cells  and  for  the 
cells  alone. 

The  food  benefits  the  soul  only  if  it 
is  utilized  by  the  cells.  But  the  nour- 
ishment that  the  soul  craves  does  not 
satisfy  the  cells.  Hunger  and  satisfac- 
tion are  not  even  simultaneous  in  both, 
at  least  not  as  regards  the  same  food. 
As  a  rule,  the  soul  comprehends 
hunger  when  the  cells  are  satisfied  and 
vice  versa.  The  soul's  hunger  ceases 
the  moment  suitable  food  in  sufficient 
quantity  is  introduced  in  the  stomach. 
But  this  does  not  help  the  cells.  Be- 
cause, if  the  food  remained  in  the 
stomach,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  soul. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         157 

the  cells  would  soon  die  of  starvation. 
The  nourishment  in  the  stomach  is  of 
the  same  importance  to  the  cells  as  the 
provisions  stored  in  the  warehouse  of 
the  community  are  to  the  human  in- 
dividuals. These  also  would  die  from 
hunger  if  they  let  the  victuals  remain 
in  the  stores.  The  people  must  under- 
take to  distribute,  prepare  and  con- 
sume the  food.  Similarly  the  cells 
would  starve  to  death  unless  they  pre- 
pared the  food  in  their  common  storage 
to  suit  their  wants.  The  nourishment 
must  be  transformed  into  blood  through 
the  whole  complicated  process  we  call 
digestion.  When  this  is  done,  the  cells 
are  able  to  satisfy  their  craving,  and 
simultaneously  a  new  hunger-feeling 
arises  in  the  soul.  Although  it  is  the 
same  food  that  satisfies  both  parties,  it 
is  the  same  food  administered  in  differ- 
ent forms,  at  a  different  time,  and  in  a 
different  mode.  We  are  concerned  with 
dissimilar  beings  possessed  of  wants  at 
once  different  and  yet  most  intimately 
associated. 


158         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

The  connection  is  not  difficult  to  un- 
derstand. When  the  soul  comprehends 
the  need  of  the  stomach,  it  is  the  col- 
lective want  of  the  cells  that  comes 
to  expression  as  the  individual  want  of 
the  soul.  The  different  needs  receive  in 
different  form  an  identical  substance 
and  this  fact  is  obviously  the  connect- 
ing link  between  the  soul  and  the  cells. 
We  might  without  difficulty  carry  out 
the  same  reasoning  in  regard  to  res- 
piration and  all  the  other  physiological 
processes  of  the  body. 

From  what  we  have  said  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  soul  and  the  cells  em- 
ploy the  body  differently;  but  for  the 
sake  of  clearness  this  ought  perhaps 
to  be  further  accentuated.  The  differ- 
ence may  be  thus  expressed:  The  soul 
acts  with  the  members  and  organs  of 
the  body  as  units,  whereas  the  cells 
perform  the  work  of  the  organs  as  in- 
dividuals. It  would  be  easy  to  explain 
what  this  implies  if  we  could  point  to 
similar  conditions  in  human  society. 
But  no  exactly  similar  institutions  ex- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.        159 

ist  there,  at  least  not  to  the  same  ex- 
tent. They  would  exist  if  the  ideal 
socialistic  state  was  realized.  The  cells 
in  their  sphere  have  carried  through  a 
communism  of  the  most  rigid  form. 
Their  social  organs  then  do  not  work 
at  the  cell-individual's  own  initiative, 
but  only  upon  the  command  of  the  cen- 
tral power  and  under  its  guidance  and 
control.  But  even  in  the  present  or- 
ganization of  mankind,  we  find  a  few 
organs  which  offer  a  suggestive  com- 
parison. Especially  is  this  the  case 
with  the  defensive  organ  of  society, 
the  standing  army,  which  is  entirely 
under  the  control  of  the  central  power 
and  acts  only  upon  its  command  and 
under  its  control. 

As  to  its  composition  the  army  is  a 
mass  of  independently  living  individu- 
als, co-operating  so  as  to  form  an  or- 
ganic whole.  All  the  work  this  unit 
performs  is  done  by  the  thousands  of 
soldiers  of  which  it  is  composed.  If 
the  government  decides  to  use  this 
organ,  that  is  if  it  declares  war,  we 


160        DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

know  that  it  leads,  arranges  and  con- 
trols the  army  as  one  unit.  It  is  not 
concerned  with  the  soldiers  as  individu- 
als, but  only  as  organized  masses. 

Exactly  analogous  is  the  relation  be- 
tween the  soul  and  the  organs,  com- 
posed of  cells,  in  man's  organism.  Here 
also  the  cell-individuals  perform  the 
work  of  the  different  organs.  The  soul 
is  not  concerned  with  the  cells  as  indi- 
viduals. It  governs,  guides  and  super-  i 
intends  the  movements  of  the  members  ' 
as  elements;  that  is,  commands  the 
cells  as  organic  masses.  'A 

We  now  consider  the  following  facts         " 
established.    The  soul  and  the  cells  are 
different   beings   with   different   wants.         'j 
They  do  not  feel  or  comprehend  in  the         " 
same  way  and  can  therefore  not  have 
immediate   perceptions    of   each    other. 
However  true  this  is  on  one  side  it  is 
on  the  other  just  as  certain  that  they 
are  so  intimately  connected  as  to  form 
the  same  organism  through  the  medium 
of  which  they  feel  their  mutual  wants 
and  therefore  must  have  some  compre- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         161 

hension  of  each  other.  This  strange 
and,  as  it  may  seem,  contradictory  re- 
lation depends  on  the  fact  that  the 
union  between  the  soul  and  the  cells 
does  not  extend  to  their  whole  entity. 
We  have  seen  that  the  soul  compre- 
hended only  the  collective  not  the  indi- 
vidual wants  of  the  cells.  Within  cer- 
tain defined  limits  therefore  they  have 
a  common  substance  that  causes  their 
marvelous  co-operation  through  the 
body. 

To  understand  and  explain  this  co- 
operation we  must  make  clear  how  the 
soul  and  the  cells  in  their  innermost 
nature  are  united.  And  we  shall  learn 
this  by  going  to  the  bottom  of  the 
meaning  of  the  expression  that  a  com- 
mon substance  so  governs  their  rela- 
tionship that  the  collective  wants  of 
the  cells  become  the  individual  wants 
of  the  soul. 

How  then  are  the  soul  and  the  cells 
intrinsically  connected? 

The  answer  may  be  derived  in  two 
ways.     We  might  take   both  the  sub- 


162         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 


jective  and  the  objective  side  of  the 
wants  as  our  point  of  view.  If  we  first 
consider  the  subjective  side  the  rela- 
tionship between  the  soul  and  the  cells 
may  be  stated  as  follows: 

We  have  previously  pointed  out  that 
in  its  wants  a  living  being  perceives  its 
own  ego  as  related  to  something  else. 
This  is  an  axiom  that  needs  no  demon- 
stration. If  now  the  soul  comprehends 
the  collective  wants  of  the  cells  as  its 
own,  this  can  only  mean  that  the  soul 
comprehends  that  part  of  the  cells'  in- 
ner nature  which  expresses  itself  as 
their  collective  wants,  as  a  part  of  its 
own  ego.  Again  the  cells  within  the 
same  limits  on  their  part  comprehend 
the  soul's  inner  nature  as  belonging  to 
their  own  individuality.  The  connec- 
tion within  these  limits  is  so  intimate 
that  they  cannot  comprehend  them- 
selves without  at  the  same  time  com- 
prehending each  other.  The  soul  must 
consequently  perceive  the  body  as  its 
own  body  because  the  same  wants  that 
cause  the  cells  to  upbuild  the  soul  also 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         163 

belong  to  the  soul's  own  entity.  On  the 
other  hand  the  soul  in  conceiving  itself 
cannot  comprehend  the  cells  as  such 
because  the  identity  is  not  extended  to 
their  whole  individuality. 

When  a  being  conceives  the  wants  of 
somebody  else  as  its  own  wants  it  is  at 
the  same  time  directly  influenced  by 
the  other.  Thus  the  soul  and  the  cells 
act  upon  each  other  throughout  the 
body,  A  will  of  the  soul  takes  with 
natural  necessity  the  form  of  a  com- 
mon impulse  upon  the  cells  bringing 
them  into  action  in  the  will's  direction. 
If  the  soul,  for  instance,  wishes  to 
move  an  arm  or  a  hand,  a  collective 
want  is  simultaneously  created  in  the 
cells  that  form  the  organ  in  question 
to  execute  that  movement. 

We  arrive  at  the  same  result  by  con- 
sidering the  fact  that  the  different 
wants  of  the  soul  and  of  the  cells  are 
identical  in  substance.  The  same  sub- 
stance cannot  enter  into  and  define 
different  beings  unless  they  themselves 
enter  in  and  define  each  other.    As  now 


164         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

both  parties  comprehend  wants  iden- 
tical in  substance,  the  soul  must  neces- 
sarily belong  to  the  cells  so  that  it  is 
the  ground  for  their  collective  wants. 
But  these  wants  were  the  cell-individu- 
al's higher  wants,  manifested  in  the 
organization  of  the  body.  The  soul 
therefore  is  potentially  present  in  the 
cells  in  the  form  of  their  higher  wants 
and  is  consequently  developed  along 
with  the  upbuilding  of  the  body.  Only 
when  this  is  ready  is  the  soul's  entity 
developed.  The  soul  must  then  com- 
prehend the  organism  as  its  particular 
body  when  conscious  of  its  own  ego, 
but  the  cells  do  not  enter  into  the  soul's 
entity  as  individuals  and  are  therefore 
not  present  as  such  in  man's  conscious- 
ness, j 

For  this  organic  co-operation  the  soul 
and  the  cells  need  no  language,  no 
signs  to  communicate  with  each  other. 
It  is  not  even  necessary  that  they  are 
aware  of  each  other's  existence.  It  is 
suflScient  that  each  party  comprehends 
its  own  wants  and  acts  for  their  satis- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         165 

faction  according  to  its  own  nature.  If 
they  do  this  their  co-operation  through 
the  body  receives  a  simple  and  at  the 
same  time  complete  explanation. 

But  however  natural  this  interaction 
is,  it  is  nevertheless  a  wonder  above  all 
wonders.  The  world  that  exists  to  the 
soul  does  not  exist  to  the  cells,  and 
vice  versa.  They  have  an  entirely  differ- 
ent conception  of  the  realm  in  which 
they  live.  They  have  different  appre- 
hensions, feelings  and  wants  and  per- 
form accordingly  different  functions. 
But  in  spite  of  this  they  are,  as  we 
have  seen,  within  certain  limits  so  in- 
timately connected  that  these  different 
comprehensions  and  labors  are  inter- 
linked with  each  other,  regulating  each 
other  as  accurately  as  the  wheels  in  a 
clock. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
Resurrection. 

FROM  the  relationship  existing  be- 
tween the  soul  and  the  cells  it  ap- 
pears that  the  former  cannot  live  a 
life  independent  of  the  latter.  The 
soul  receives  its  entire  individuality, 
all  its  qualities,  forces,  and  faculties, 
through  the  organism  built  by  the  cells, 
which  therefore  must  exist  before  the 
soul  can  exist  as  the  real  unity  in  the 
organism.  This  does  not  mean  that  the 
soul  is  an  empty  form  void  of  independ- 
ent substance.  Even  before  the  cells 
have  combined  into  an  organic  unit  the 
soul  is  potentially  present  in  them  in 
the  form  of  the  wants  that  force  them 
to  upbuild  the  organism,  and  this  or- 
ganism is  that  of  the  soul,  not  that  of 
the  cells,  of  which  each  possesses  its 
individual  organism. 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         167 

But  if  the  soul  is  potentially  present 
in  the  cells  it  is  only  through  them  that 
it  can  arise  to  a  higher  life.  We  have 
already  shown  in  another  connection 
that  a  direct  transposition  would  be 
useless  and  meaningless.  Endowed 
with  his  present  organs  adapted  to 
earthly  conditions,  a  man  suddenly 
translated  into  the  glories  of  a  higher 
world  would  with  seeing  eyes  yet  see 
nothing,  with  hearing  ears  hear  noth- 
ing and  with  feeling  senses  would  feel 
nothing.  To  comprehend  what  there 
exists  and  happens,  man's  own  organ- 
ism must  have  undergone  a  correspond- 
ing radical  transformation.  He  must 
have  new,  more  perfect  senses,  higher 
spiritual  and  bodily  faculties,  differing 
from  his  present  as  far  as  the  objects 
in  this  higher  world  differ  from  those 
on  earth.  This  transfigured  body  can 
only  be  organized  by  the  same  beings 
that  built  it  here  in  time.  The  soul  is 
inseparably  united  with  these  beings 
and  is  where  they  are. 

Here  in  time  man  commences  with  a 


168         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

cell  and  with  a  cell  he  must  begin  in  a 
future  life.  This  first  cell  with  which 
man  enters  his  next  form  of  existence 
cannot  logically  be  any  other  than  the 
first  dying  cell-individual.  As  no  atom, 
so  no  elementary  unit  of  the  living 
spiritual  body  is  annihilated.  Viewed 
from  our  present  existence  death  can- 
not mean  anything  to  the  departed 
cell-generations  but  the  cessation  of 
life  and  activity  in  the  world  responsive 
to  our  senses.  In  reality  they  rise  to  a 
higher  evolution  under  different  condi- 
tions and  this  evolution  must  be  iden- 
tical with  the  upbuilding  of  the  glorified 
body  man  shall  possess  in  a  future 
life. 

This  form  of  death  and  resurrection, 
natural  because  it  is  founded  on  the 
idea  and  nature  of  the  organism,  is 
common  to  all  living  beings  and  must 
so  be,  as  they  are  all  built  according  to 
the  same  general  plan  and  therefore 
essentially  subject  to  the  same  evolu- 
tionary processes.  The  birth  and  death 
of  the  lower  individuals  in  whole  gen- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         169 

erations  is  known  to  be  a  universal 
phenomenon  in  every  organism  and  we 
will  now  endeavor  shortly  to  explain 
this  process. 

If  the  soul  enters  as  a  real  part  in 
every  individual  cell,  it  does  not  belong 
differently  to  the  first  generation  than 
to  the  last  or  to  the  whole  series  of 
intermediary  generations.  But  here  in 
time  man  lives  only  in  the  generation 
existing  at  the  present  moment.  The 
generations  that  in  the  past  successive- 
ly formed  the  spiritual  substance  of  his 
body  have  already  gone  out  of  time 
and  those  that  are  coming  have  not  yet 
made  their  entrance.  Man's  entity  is 
thus  split  or  distributed  upon  a  series 
of  successively  existing  moments,  each 
of  which  contains  only  a  certain  lim- 
ited part  of  the  organism,  and  the  lat- 
ter has  therefore  in  reality  a  far 
broader  extent  than  is  seen  at  present. 

But  time  confines  and  restricts  man 
not  only  in  this,  but  in  all  respects.  To 
take  another  example,  we  know  that 
man  possesses  a  multitude  of  different 


170         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

faculties  and  talents.  But  in  time  he 
cannot  utilize  them  all.  As  a  member 
of  society  he  devotes  himself  to  a  cer- 
tain trade  or  profession.  Now  there 
are  thousands  of  different  possible 
activities  and  therefore  thousands  of 
different  talents  that  every  man  might 
develop  but  never  can,  simply  for  lack 
of  time.  Time  is  not  even  suf&cient  to 
fully  develop  one  human  talent  in  one 
definite  direction.  Man  has  at  his  dis- 
posal only  the  present  moment,  and  in 
each  moment  he  can  only  think  one 
thought,  perform  one  act,  satisfy  one 
need.  It  is  said  that  man  should  de- 
velop all  his  faculties  evenly,  but  so  long 
as  he  lives  in  time  this  is  an  impossi- 
bility. As  a  matter  of  fact  man  can 
only  live  this  life  piecemeal,  and  in  thi^ 
time-existence  proper  we  have  the  ex- 
planation of  the  fact  that  man  distrib- 
utes his  body  over  a  series  of  cell-gen- 
erations. 

The  law  of  the  indestructibility  of 
matter  and  energy  is  valid  also  in  the 
ideal  world  and  this  necessarily  since 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         171 

it  is  a  demand  of  thought  itself.*  Ap- 
plied to  spiritual  substance,  which  can 
exist  only  in  the  form  of  living  indi- 
viduals, the  law  may  be  expressed, 
"All  living  beings  are  immortal."  If 
therefore  the  cell-generations  that  in 
the  past  composed  man's  organism  can 
no  more  be  annihilated  than  the  future 
generations  can  be  created  from  noth- 
ing, this  implies  that  man  has  an  indi- 
vidual existence  not  only  after  but 
before  his  entrance  into  this  world.  If 
such  be  the  case  we  must  be  able  to 
derive  and  explain  our  earthly  life  from 
this  pre-existence.  Can  it  now  be 
shown  that  man's  conditions  in  his 
pre-existence  are  such  that  he  needs 
and  must  go  through  an  evolution  in 
time?  In  that  case  history  may  per- 
haps give  us  a  hint  how  to  answer  the 
question,  or  would  this  pre-existence  be 
an  entirely  new  thought?  By  no  means. 
Pre-existence  is  and  must  be  a  funda- 

♦BjSrklund  might  here  properly  have  referred  to 
his  previous  demonstration  of  the  fact  that  life  has 
no  roots  in  time,  conseauently  is  independent  of  this 
principle — 1.    e.,    Immortal. — Translator's    note. 


172         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

mental  idea  in  all  religions  because 
they  all  suppose  that  man  emanated 
from  God  through  an  original  act  of 
creation.  That  the  Christian  religion 
especially  has  this  basic  idea  Victor 
Rydberg  has  fully  demonstrated  in  a 
treatise  entitled  "Man's  Pre-existence." 

But  although  we  may  say  that  all  re- 
ligions teach  a  pre-existence  we  do  not 
mean  that  this  idea  has  been  or  even 
could  have  been  rightly  understood. 
We  might  expect  just  the  contrary,  as 
pre-existence  is  connected  with  the 
common  conception  that  man's  soul  as 
well  as  the  material  world  was  once 
created  in  time,  in  which  case  pre- 
existence  can  only  mean  an  existence 
extending  very  far  back  in  time.  There 
was  a  time  when  God  existed  but  not 
man,  which  latter,  as  being  created, 
must  have  an  existence  separate  from 
God  even  if  he  may  in  other  respects  be 
called  His  image. 

This  form  of  belief  in  pre-existence 
shows  the  same  shortcomings  and  is 
subject  to  the  same  objections  as  the 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         173 

whole  orthodox  theory  of  creation.  As 
we  can  and  must  ask  how  a  perfect 
God  could  create  an  imperfect,  that  is, 
an  evolutionary  world,  we  might  also 
ask,  why  was  man  created  with  the 
necessity  for  an  evolution  in  time  when 
he  never  could  develop  anything  but 
what  God  had  implanted  potentially  in 
his  being?  Instead  of  explaining  evo- 
lution this  theory  only  makes  it  so 
much  the  more  mysterious. 

Besides  this  conception,  however,  the 
religious  intuition  has  surmised  that 
the  connection  between  God  and  man 
is  profoundly  deeper  and  more  inti- 
mate. Man  does  not  have  an  existence 
separate  from  God.  This  intuitive 
thought,  intensified  in  highly  religious 
souls,  has  led  them  to  preach,  that  man 
possesses  a  life  in  Ood;  is  part  of  His  own 
being,  is  a  living  member  in  His  perfect 
organism.  If  this  be  true,  why,  again, 
must  man  go  through  an  evolution? 
Is  he  not  as  unchangeable  as  God  Him- 
self? 


I 


CHAPTEE  XII. 
Man  and   Infinity. 

IT  IS  the  perennial  honor  of  Sweden's 
greatest  philosopher,  Christofer  Jacob 
Bostrom,  to  have  satisfactorily  ex- 
plained the  extremely  dififlcult  and 
complicated  question  with  which  our 
last  chapter  concluded.  He  has  shown 
that  man,  exactly  on  the  supposition 
that  he  is  an  eternal  part  of  God's  be- 
ing, requires  and  must  go  through  an 
evolution  in  time.  According  to  Bos- 
trom, religious  intuition  has  found  the 
truth  that  man  is  an  eternal  idea  in 
God,  a  living  member  in  His  organism. 
But  Bostrom  has  also  understood  and 
considered  the  difference  implied  in 
thinking  of  man  as  a  member  in  God's 
organism  and  in  thinking  of  this  mem- 
ber as  living  its  independent  life.  In 
the  former  case  man  possesses  the  same 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         175 

qualities  as  God;  in  the  latter,  these 
qualities  with  corresponding  limita- 
tions. 

For  an  illustration  of  how  all  lim- 
ited beings  are  incorporated  in  an  ab- 
solute personality,  Bostrom  likes  to 
fall  back  on  the  numerical  system. 
Spiritual  beings  form  a  series,  as  it 
were,  of  lower  and  higher  entities, 
where  the  latter  contain  the  former 
pretty  much  as  higher  numbers  contain 
the  smaller.  Bostrom  distinguishes  be- 
tween positive  and  negative  attributes, 
and  means  by  the  former  those  attri- 
butes without  which  the  being  cannot 
be  thought,  and  which  it  therefore  in 
one  sense  contains.  So  for  instance  in 
the  number  ten,  all  the  previous  num- 
bers are  positive  attributes  because  ten 
cannot  be  thought  without  them,  which, 
however,  does  not  imply  identity  with 
either  of  the  lower  numbers.  On  the 
other  hand  all  the  following  numbers 
are  negative  attributes  to  the  number 
ten  because  this  may  well  be  thought 
without  them.     It  contains  them  onlv 


176         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

if  it  is  considered  as  one  point  in  the 
numerical  system,  in  which  case  it  has 
them  all  as  attributes.  Thus,  still  re- 
ferring to  the  number  ten,  this  may 
be  considered  complete  within  itself 
without  considering  the  higher  num- 
bers, whereas  if  we  wish  to  compre- 
hend it  fully  we  must  see  it  as  a  link 
in  the  numerical  system.  Ten  would 
not  be  the  half  of  twenty  without  the 
latter,  and  so  on.  The  existence  of  the 
higher  is  after  all  required  for  that  of 
the  lower  as  fully  as  the  existence  of 
the  lower  is  necessary  to  that  of  the 
higher. 

Because  each  entity  is  higher  accord- 
ing as  it  has  a  larger  number  of  the 
rest  as  its  positive  and  a  smaller  num- 
ber as  its  negative  attributes,  it  fol- 
lows that  the  highest  entity,  or  Deity, 
has  no  negative  attributes  but  only 
positive  ones,  which  of  course  is  the 
true  meaning  of  the  expression  that 
God  is  the  most  perfect  being. 

As  a  lower  being  is  more  perfectly 
defined  when  considered  included  in  a 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         177 

higher,  this  fact  must  be  the  reason 
why  all  finite,  rational  beings  in  their 
evolution  try  to  assert  themselves  in 
the  higher  beings,  up  to  the  highest, 
by  whom  they  finally  obtain  their  full 
scope  and  in  whom  only  they  live  their 
complete  life. 

But  if  Bostrom  had  lived  to  study  the 
modern  cytology  he  would  have  found 
a  more  adequate  comparison  within 
man's  organism,  and  one  that  perhaps 
in  several  respects  would  have  modified 
his  conception  of  the  world  of  divine 
ideas. 

God  is  related  to  man  as  man  is,  not 
to  the  cell,  but  to  the  lower  units  of 
which  the  cell  is  composed.  Between 
God  and  man  there  is  at  least  one 
other  organism  that  we  know  of,  name- 
ly humanity.  But  if  we  overlook  this 
and  for  simplicity's  sake  imagine  the 
relationship  as  that  of  man  to  cell  it 
should  be  evident  from  what  has  been 
previously  said  that  man  is  and  must 
be  something  else  to  God  than  he  is  to 
himself. 


178         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 


To  God  he  is  what  the  cell  is  to  man, 
a  living  part  in  His  organism,  and  in 
this  capacity  he  possesses  all  the  per- 
fect qualities  of  that  organism.  Living 
his  independent  life,  man  is  in  the 
same  position  as  the  cell  in  his  own 
being,  when  the  cell  is  thought  of  as 
living  the  life  it  is  confined  to  by  its 
less  perfect  organism. 

Although  limited  to  that  life  the  cell 
may  literally  be  said  to  be  man's 
image — but  an  image  of  a  very  singu- 
lar kind.  The  cell  does  not  reproduce 
man's  traits  as  does  a  photograph  or  a 
statue,  but  within  its  lower  realm  it 
mirrors  the  fundamental  qualities  of 
the  original  on  a  very  reduced  scale. 

These  limitations  can  not  be  con- 
ceived by  the  cell  as  such  because  they 
are  natural  to  it  and  belong  to  its 
entity.  The  cell  is  and  must  feel  itself 
as  perfect  in  its  realm  as  man  in  his. 
Only  if  the  cell  could  compare  its  con- 
ditions with  man's,  these  limitations 
would  be  apparent  to  it,  and  such  a 
comparison  the   cell  really  undertakes 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.        179 

within  certain  limits.  Into  each  feeling 
of  want  enters  a  comparison  between 
the  possessed  and  the  desired.  In  the 
higher  wants,  then,  that  drive  the  cells 
to  upbuild  man's  organism  we  have  a 
manifestation  of  such  a  comparing 
power  of  the  cell.  Experience  shows 
that  the  cell  may  live  in  a  veritable 
natural  state,  but  it  is  also,  because  of 
the  presence  of  the  soul  in  its  inner- 
most being,  capable  of  a  high  culture 
for  the  development  of  which  it  receives 
constant  impulses  and  stimulations 
from  the  soul. 

In  the  same  sense  man  may  be  said 
to  be  the  image  of  God.  Living  in  the 
world  and  the  natural  state,  to  which 
he  is  confined  by  his  relatively  imper- 
fect organism,  man  has  the  qualities  of 
God  with  corresponding  limitations. 
But  even  in  this  state  he  feels  the  spirit 
of  God  present  in  him  because  he  is  an 
original  part  of  God's  own  organism. 
In  his  conscience  and  in  his  religious 
feeling  man  not  only  comprehends  dis- 
tinctly the  presence  of  God  in  his  inner 


180         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

being  but  constantly  receives  also  im- 
pulses, incitements  and  inspirations  to 
develop  that  perfect  life  and  heavenly 
kingdom,  of  which  he  is  called  by  his 
high  origin  and  divine  birth  to  become 
a  citizen. 

What  the  conscience  and  the  reli- 
gious feelings  are  to  the  will,  the  log- 
ical laws  of  thinking  are  to  the  reason, 
and  in  the  latter,  man  finds  God  as  im- 
mediately present  as  in  the  former. 
Indeed,  logical  laws  are  the  form  in 
which  God  himself  exists. 

Because  of  God's  presence  in  the 
eternal  laws  of  our  thinking,  man  is 
able  to  appraise  himself  and  his  con- 
dition with  an  absolute  measure,  and 
can  in  this  way  obtain  a  certain  knowl- 
edge of  God's  world  and  of  his  perfect 
qualities.  He  has  only  to  abstract  all 
wants  and  limitations  from  such  quali- 
ties as  have  a  positive  content,  because 
lack  of  want  is  perfectness.  We  shall 
now  undertake  such  a  valuation  with 
respect  to  man's  need  of  evolution  here 
in  time,  which  quality,  as  all  the  oth- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.        181 

ers,  can  be  explained  and  understood 
only  through  its  connection  with  the 
corresponding  quality  in  the  absolute 
being. 

It  is  as  natural  to  God  to  be  without 
an  origin  and  an  evolution  as  it  is  to 
man  to  have  them,  and  we  might  there- 
fore ask  how  man  in  this  respect  can 
have  anything  in  common  with  God,  a 
condition  which,  as  we  remember,  was 
indispensable  for  any  comparison  what- 
ever. To  make  this  point  clear  we  may 
express  ourselves  in  a  more  familiar 
way.  We  might  speak  of  time  and  ex- 
istence in  time,  instead  of  origin  and 
evolution,  as  the  latter  are  only  forms 
of  time. 

Is  there  then  a  moment  in  time  that 
has  a  corresponding  meaning  for  God 
and  the  limitations  of  which  we  must 
abstract  in  order  to  understand  God's 
quality  of  being  eternal?  It  is  by  an- 
alyzing the  relation  between  time  and 
eternity  that  we  hope  to  receive  an 
answer  to  the  question  why  man  must 
undergo  an  evolution  in  time. 


182         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

The  most  conspicuous  want  in  all 
that  exists  in  time  is  its  lack  of  dura- 
tion; everything  has  a  beginning  and 
an  end.  With  this  lack  of  duration  a 
corresponding  lack  of  reality  follows. 
The  real  is  real,  only  as  long  as  it  lasts 
or  only  in  the  present  moment.  Every- 
thing past  has  ceased  to  exist  and  is 
therefore  no  longer  real,  and  the  future 
is  unreal  because  it  has  not  entered  the 
present. 

The  real  in  time  is  identical  with 
the  present,  which  therefore  must  be 
the  moment  most  like  eternity  and  the 
limitations  of  which  we  have  to  re- 
move. 

First  of  all,  the  present  in  time  suf- 
fers the  want  of  ceasing  and  sinking 
back  into  the  past,  into  unreality.  We 
can  overcome  this  only  by  raising 
everything  past  from  its  grave,  so  ta 
speak,  and  drawing  it  simultaneously 
into  the  present.  To  the  eternally 
present,  nothing  past,  ending  or  ceas- 
ing can  exist. 

On   the   other   hand    the   present   in 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         183 

time  suffers  the  same  want  in  the  op- 
posite direction,  inasmuch  as  everything 
future  is  excluded  therefrom  and  this 
future  growing  reality  must  therefore 
be  drawn  into  the  eternal.  Neither 
past  nor  future  can  exist  to  God;  He 
lives  life  undividedly,  without  limita- 
tions, and  needs  not,  as  man,  plot  out 
his  existence  in  a  series  of  moments. 
Eternity  then  is  not  identical  with  un- 
ending time;  it  is  a  different  form  of 
existence,  related  to  time  as  the  per- 
fect to  the  imperfect. 

Difficult  as  it  is  to  explain  what 
eternity  implies  as  the  perfect  form  of 
existence,  it  is  no  less  difficult  to  com- 
prehend the  infinite  wealth  of  content 
that  such  a  form  includes.  We  will 
therefore  give  a  few  brief  suggestions 
in  this  direction. 

How  poor  in  content  is  everything 
present  to  man,  and  likewise  how  de- 
fective and  unsatisfactory  is  his  whole 
life  here  in  time.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
we  can  in  each  moment  only  think  one 
thought,   perform   one  act,  satisfy  one 


184  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

want.  We  read  a  book  and  we  are 
only  conscious  of  one  line  or  one  sen- 
tence at  a  time.  We  listen  to  a  musical 
creation  or  admire  an  exhibition  of  art, 
and  we  only  hear  a  few  harmonies,  or 
see  a  few  details  of  one  picture,  more 
distinctly  at  the  time,  and  so  on.  How 
much  richer  would  not  our  life  be  if  we 
could  think  the  book  from  beginning  to 
end  at  once,  hear  the  harmony  of  the 
entire  oratorio,  now  focus  the  beauties 
in  smallest  details  of  the  whole  picture- 
gallery  to  one  point.  It  even  dazzles 
our  spiritual  eye  if  we  enlarge  the 
range  of  such  a  rich  intuition  to  en- 
compass not  only  our  nearest  environ- 
ments but  our  whole  earth  or  possibly 
our  entire  solar  system,  and  yet  we 
have  only  taken  one  step  on  a  road 
that  has  no  end.  Our  solar  system  is 
only  an  insignificant  point  among  those 
innumerable  worlds  that  form  the 
Milky  Way,  beyond  which  the  astrono- 
mers surmise  the  existence  of  other 
hosts  of  stars  without  limit.  If  we 
now  could  share  in  life  at  every  point 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         185 

in  this  infinity  of  worlds,  would  then 
our  conception  of  the  content  of  eter- 
nity be  exact?  By  no  means.  We  must 
include  in  this  present  moment  every- 
thing that  has  happened  on  these 
worlds  since  the  dawn  of  time  and 
similarly  all  that  will  occur  in  the  mil- 
lenniums to  come.  Is  the  eternal  meas- 
ure now  full  and  overflowing?  By  no 
means.  Above  us  and  below  us  there 
are  beings  to  whom  other  universes 
exist  as  infinite  in  all  directions  as  our 
own.  All  these  infinities  of  infinities 
must  be  drawn  into  eternity,  but  then, 
surely,  the  measure  must  be  full.  By 
no  means.  We  have  all  this  time  moved 
within  the  realm  of  phenomena,  that  is 
to  say,  in  the  finite  world;  all  this  is 
only  a  faint  shadow  of  the  wealth  that 
eternity  contains.  God  lives  in  a  light 
that  no  man  hath  seen  nor  yet  can  see. 
In  this  light,  in  this  perfectness,  man 
is  a  part  of  the  divine  entity.  This  life 
in  God's  eternal  consciousness  is  man's 
primary  and  original  existence.  Only 
in  a  secondary  meaning  is  he  a  self- 


186  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

existent  personality  and  is  then  no 
more  identical  with  God  than  the  cell 
is  with  man. 

Man  as  an  entity  for  himself  must 
have  the  natural  limitations  of  the  part. 
Conceived  by  God  man  is  eternal  in  the 
divine  sense,  but  conceived  by  himself 
man's  eternal  life  is  clothed  in  the  lim- 
itations we  call  time.  The  eternal  is 
a  constant  present  without  beginning 
or  end,  without  past  or  future.  What 
is  present  to  man  must  suffer  these 
limitations;  in  other  words,  man  must 
be  born,  must  go  through  an  evolution, 
or  what  is  the  same,  become  to  himself 
what  he  has  been  eternally  to  God.  In 
this  respect  man's  relation  to  God  may 
be  compared  to  the  relation  of  a  new- 
born child  to  its  earthly  father.  To 
him  the  nature  and  scope  of  the  child 
is  perfectly  clear,  but  the  child  is  un- 
conscious of  it  and  must  awaken  to  an 
understanding  thereof,  that  is  to  say, 
must  become  to  itself  what  it  already 
is  to  its  father. 

Living    beings     form     a     continuous 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         18/ 

series  in  the  absolute  organism.  This 
series  is  such  that  the  higher  beings 
form  the  conditions  and  supports  of 
the  lower.  This  connection  must  be 
entirely  reversed  during  evolution 
itself,  which  naturally  proceeds  from 
the  lower  to  the  higher.  In  time  there- 
fore the  generation  and  development 
of  the  lower  beings  must  precede  that 
of  the  higher.  We  have  also  seen  that 
the  evolution  of  the  former  is  identical 
with  the  upbuilding  of  the  organisms 
of  the  latter,  and  we  understand  now 
that  the  whole  process  must  essentially 
follow^  the  course  which,  as  we  have 
previously  shown,  it  does  in  fact,  actu- 
ally take. 

It  is  further  the  inlierent  idea  of  time 
that  man's  eternal  entity  cannot  ap- 
pear whole  and  undivided.  He  must 
plot  it  out  along  a  series  of  successive 
moments  which  make  room  for  only 
one  cell-generation  at  a  time.  As  the 
cell's  entity  again  has  a  less  compre- 
hensive content  than  man's,  its  lifetime 
must  be  correspondingly  shorter. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
Recapitulation. 

THE  theory  we  have  here  advanced 
may  naturally  seem  startling;  for 
what  could  be  more  foreign  to  common 
conceptions  than  the  assertion  that  sci- 
ence today  gives  us  full  evidence  of  a 
death  and  a  resurrection  that  com- 
mence during  cmr  life  in  time?  Con- 
sidering this,  it  may  be  appropriate 
to  recapitulate  the  salient  points  in  our 
line  of  thought. 

From  prehistoric  times  up  to  our  own 
days  all  people  at  all  stages  of  evolu- 
tion have  to  a  man  been  convinced  that 
the  body  in  some  way  and  in  some  form 
contains  an  imperishable  and  essential 
part  which  man  cannot  do  without  in 
a  future  life.  With  this  intuitive  and 
purely  instinctive  faith  as  a  basis,  the 
steps  in  the  following  historical  evolu- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         189 

tion  become  fully  natural  and  logical 
consequences. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  this 
eternal  part  should  at  first  sight  be 
considered  identical  with  the  material 
body.  Therefore  it  was  also  natural 
that  a  cult  of  the  dead  would  be  the 
stage  where  all  people  begin.  Man 
sees  however  that  death  as  a  matter  of 
fact  separates  the  immortal  soul  from 
that  body  which  the  soul  cannot  dis- 
pense with.  The  separation  cannot  be 
complete  because  the  ties  cannot  be 
severed.  The  soul  then  is  attached  to 
the  body  even  after  death.  Conse- 
quently it  must  be  the  duty  of  the  sur- 
viving to  provide  the  body  of  the  de- 
ceased with  a  dwelling  as  good  and 
suitable  as  possible  and  also  with  the 
provisions  that  the  body  needs. 

A  man  could  not,  however,  find  such 
a  condition  satisfactory  for  any  length 
of  time,  and  the  thought  of  death 
gnaws  and  torments  him.  Shall  the 
soul  never  regain  possession  of  the 
body  without  which  even  the  glories  of 


190  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

heaven  are  pale  and  shadowy?  The 
doctrine  of  the  bodily  resurrection  on 
the  day  of  judgment  must  be  the  next 
great  progress  in  our  philosophy  of 
life. 

But  unusually  gifted  persons,  bent 
towards  idealism,  had  already  felt  in- 
stinctively that  it  was  not  the  exterior, 
material  covering  that  was  indispensa- 
ble to  the  soul.  Man  possessed  also 
another,  a  spiritual  body  which  the 
soul  could  immediately  transfer  to  an- 
other life.  We  gain  a  glimpse  of  the 
vividness  of  this  intuition  in  large 
groups  of  men,  when  we  remember  that 
the  survivors  even  sought  to  annihilate 
the  material  body  by  the  flames  of  the 
pyre  in  order  to  liberate  the  deceased 
from  his  earthly  ties.  The  great  masses 
of  the  population  could  not  rise  to  this 
ideal  conception,  and  we  therefore  find 
the  two  fundamental  ideas  prevailing 
side  by  side. 

Here  the  two  first  epochs  in  man's 
history  end.  They  show  us  the  inti- 
mate connection  between  religious  con- 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         191 

ceptions  and  man's  understanding  of 
the  exterior  world  in  wliieli  he  lives 
and  acts.  The  following  stage  com- 
mences logically  with  the  great  ad- 
vancement of  the  natural  sciences. 
Chemistry  partly  lifts  the  veil  that 
hides  the  innermost  nature  of  matter, 
and  at  the  dawn  of  the  new  science  the 
old  ideas  concerning  the  nature  of  the 
body  disappear  like  the  shadows  of 
night  at  the  rising  of  the  sun. 

A  bodily  resurrection  on  doomsday 
is  impossible  because  every  dead  body 
sooner  or  later  arises  and  takes  part 
in  the  circulation  of  matter,  so  that  on 
the  day  of  judgment  it  might  be  found 
that  the  same  materials  had  entered 
over  and  over  again  into  the  composi- 
tion of  a  variety  of  human  bodies.  It 
is  also  a  fact  that  man  changes  his 
material  clothing  several  times  even 
during  his  earthly  life.  But  the  belief 
in  the  essential  value  of  the  body  is 
too  deeply  rooted  to  give  away  entirely 
and  so  we  meet  it  again  in  the  modern 
materialism  which  perhaps  may  be  said 


192  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

to  emphasize  the  significance  of  the 
body  even  more  than  the  cult  of  the 
dead  did  in  ancient  time. 

But  while  materialism  claims  as  its 
own  the  consequences  of  the  revolu- 
tionary work  of  chemistry,  biology  lays 
the  firm  foundation  for  a  new  and 
higher  development  of  religious  con- 
ceptions. Biology  discovers  and  proves 
the  existence  of  that  spiritual  body 
which  humanity  has  surmised  since 
prehistoric  times.  It  is  to  this  extraor- 
dinarily important  fact  that  we  desired 
to  call  attention.  We  have  endeav- 
ored to  draw  its  consequences  only  as 
regards  the  cell-generations  which  suc- 
cessively rise  and  die  in  the  human 
body  as  in  human  society.  Now  when 
it  can  be  shown  that  these  dying  gen- 
erations are  eternal  and  imperishable 
parts  of  man's  own  nature,  the  concep- 
tion of  death  and  resurrection  we  have 
here  advanced  must  be  the  only  possi- 
ble one.  The  hitherto  common  ideas 
regarding  the  translation  of  man  to 
another  world  have  upon  closer  study 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         193 

been  found  as  naive  as  they  are  un- 
natural, because  any  such  direct  trans- 
position of  man's  entity  is  impossible 
and  unthinkable. 

But  however  simple  and  scientifical- 
ly natural  the  theory  here  proposed,  it 
could  not  have  appeared  at  a  much 
earlier  date.  It  requires  not  only  the 
results  of  modern  cytology  but  also  the 
widening  of  the  idea  of  immortality 
which  natural  science  suggests  and 
overwhelmingly  proves.  It  presupposes 
also  the  law  of  evolution  we  have  en- 
deavored to  make  clear,  namely,  that 
beings  endowed  with  common  wants 
and  existing  in  similar  surroundings 
and  conditions  cannot  develop,  except 
by  the  upbuilding  of  an  organism,  and 
thus  entering  as  organic  members  in 
an  individual  of  higher  order  than 
themselves.  From  these  premises  we 
might  have  deduced  our  theory  of 
death  and  resurrection  and  yet  the 
whole  process  would  still  have  seemed 
mysterious  and  inexplicable  but  for 
the    work    of    our    great    predecessor, 


194         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

Christofer  Jacob  Bostrom,  that  Plato  of 
the  North,  so  often  misunderstood  by 
his  contemporaries,  or  at  least  more 
known  on  account  of  certain  possible 
deficiencies  in  his  system  than  because 
of  its  imperishable  merits. 

Idealism  and  materialism  have  hith- 
erto stood  as  two  absolutely  incom- 
patible contrasts  and  the  fierce  battle 
that  continuously  rages,  even  in  our 
days,  between  the  two  world-concep- 
tions can,  according  to  common  notions, 
only  be  brought  to  an  end  through  the 
complete  defeat  of  one  of  the  parties. 
We  have  endeavored  to  show  that  both 
these  philosophies  have  common  defi- 
ciencies, but  that  each  of  them  pos- 
sesses an  essential  part  of  truth.  We 
cannot  deny  idealism  the  merit  of  hav- 
ing looked  far  deeper  into  the  nature 
of  things  and  phenomena.  While  ad- 
mitting this  we  cannot  be  blind  to  the 
fact  that  this  philosophy  has  left  at 
least  one  fact  of  nearly  overwhelming 
importance  totally  unexplained.  If  it 
be  true  that  the  soul  is  the  essential 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         195 

part  of  man  and  is  that  to  which  alone 
immortality  is  granted,  how  then  shall 
we  account  for  the  fact  that  the  soul's 
evolution,  properly  the  one  principal 
object  of  man,  must  stand  aside  for  the 
body  to  such  an  extent  that  the  body 
utilizes,  if  not  all  yet  at  least  the 
largest  part  of  man's  time  and  energy? 
To  materialism  this  reply  is  given,  but 
then  again  this  philosophy  has  been 
unable  to  answer  all  those  questions 
which  idealism  alone  could  satisfactor 
ily  explain. 

Now  at  last  we  understand  the  rea- 
son for  these  contradictions.  The  two 
world-conceptions  suffer  the  same  es- 
sential deficiency  of  having  overlooked 
the  fact  that  the  body  contains  a  spir- 
itual organism,  of  the  same  importance 
to  man's  future  life  as  to  his  present. 
In  the  theory  here  proposed  material- 
ism in  a  purified  form  melts  into  ideal- 
ism, which  latter  thus  receives  the  sup- 
plement it  hitherto  has  lacked  as  a 
universal,  satisfactory  world-explana- 
tion.     We    have    barely    outlined    this 


196         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 


new,  organic  idealism  and  have  treated 
it  somewhat  more  extensively  only  with 
reference    to    death    and    resurrection. 
But  also  on  this  point  our  work,  as  all 
human  effort,  is  only  piecemeal  labor. 
As  soon  as  we  have  advanced  one  step, 
other  entirely  new  questions  arise.    We 
already  discern  boundless  expanses  of 
problems    in    the    same    direction    and 
shall  here  point  out  one  example.     The 
organic  changes,  characterizing  old  age 
and    preceding    the    so-called    natural 
death,   are  comparatively  well  studied 
and    known.      But    in    spite    of    this, 
natural  science  is  unable  to  tell  us  the 
underlying  cause  in  the  inner  nature  of 
the  organism,  and  it  is  even  admitted 
that    we    know    no    reason    why    the 
process  should   not  follow   an   entirely 
opposite    course.      From    our    point    of 
view    man    has    an   individual    content 
larger  than  that  included  in  the  suc- 
cessive   moments    of   time,    and    death 
should  normally  enter  with  the  transla- 
tion of  the  last  cell-generation.     It  is 
true  that  as  civilization  advances  man's 


DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION.         197 

lifetime  is  constantly  increasing,  so 
that  we  may  look  forward  to  a  time 
when  most  men  will  die  a  natural 
death.  But  if  we  meet  a  premature 
death,  as  is  now  generally  the  case, 
can  this,  and  other  disturbing  inter- 
ruptions in  the  natural  process,  after- 
wards be  repaired?  Let  us  hope  that 
this  is  possible,  but  a  decisive  answer 
we  cannot  give.  Our  conviction  is  that 
God  does  not  interfere  to  help  man 
either  in  the  transition  itself  or  in  a 
future  life  in  any  other  way  than  he 
does  here  in  time.  Certainly  the  cler- 
ical orthodoxy  has  rightly  understood 
the  divine  guidance  in  its  teaching  of 
God's  general  providence,  comprising 
the  whole  creation,  His  special  provi- 
dence in  regard  to  mankind,  and  His 
most  particular  providence,  limited  to 
the  faithful;  that  is,  to  those  that  let 
themselves  be  governed  by  the  divine 
will.  Critical  experience  has  never  dis- 
covered any  exterior,  occasional  inter- 
ference, which  moreover  is  utterly  im- 
possible.    God  is  present  and  active  in 


198         DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION. 

the  eternal  and  unchangeable  laws  of 
nature  and  spirit.  Sin  and  punish- 
ment, virtue  and  reward,  are  connected 
with  each  other  as  reason  and  conclu- 
sion, cause  and  effect.  Man  is  himself 
the  cause  of  his  acts  and  they  bring 
their  inevitable  consequences.  The 
man  therefore  who  consciously  and 
purposely  distorts  his  own  natural  evo- 
lution or  that  of  others  stands  before 
himself  and  before  his  fellow  men  bur- 
dened with  a  terrible  responsibility. 


INDEX 

Absolute  organism,  the,   187. 

Achilles,  14. 

Activity,   incitement  to,   154. 

Adaptation,  149. 

Affinity,  97. 

Agni,  the  elementary,  24. 

Annihilation   contrary  to  nature,    1,   168. 

Army  organization,  159f. 

Art  and  organic  matter,   107,   111,   119f. 

Ask  and  Embla,  21. 

Athens,  9. 

Bacteria,  57. 

Belief  in  future  life,  2. 

Biology  and  the  spiritual  body,   192. 

Bjorklund,   Johan  Gustaf,   VII. 

Body,  importance  of  the,   18. 

Bostrom,   Christofer  Jacob,    174,    1?4. 

Burial  ceremonies,  9,  20. 

BUchner,  48f,  56,  62,  69,  73,  75,  83. 

Causality,  118,  119. 

Cause,  sufficient,  117. 

Cells,   living   units,    27,    29;   man,   a   community  of,   30; 

a  system  of,  142. 
Chemical  reactions,  76,  82. 
Chinese  civilization,   10;  death-cultus,  11. 

199 


200  INDEX. 

Chlorophyll,  115. 

Christianity,  16,  20. 

Church  burial,  16. 

Circulation,  blood,  78. 

Civilization,   antiquity  of  Chinese,    10. 

Cohesion,  97. 

Conscience,  44. 

Consciousness,  45. 

Combustion,  92,  94ff. 

Communism,   cell,   159. 

Cooperation,   innermost,   161. 

Corporeal   existence,   soul's  craving  for,   15. 

Cosmic  catastrophe,  a,  103. 

Creation,    orthodox   theory  of,    67,    173. 

Cremation,  21,  24. 

Customs,  grave,  13. 

Coulanges,  Fustel  de,  7,  10. 

Cytology,  28,  29,  177,  193. 

Darwin's  theory,  62. 

Death,  and  dissolution,   1;   in  mid-ocean,   12. 

Death-cultus,   11,   49,    189,   192. 

Decay,  105,    116. 

Deity,  176. 

Dextrose,  82. 

"Division  of  labor,"   organic,   141. 

Dogma,  16,  51. 

Doomsday,  191. 

Dove,  128. 

Dualism,  ecclesiastical,  21,  88. 

Dusch,  von,  57. 

Duty  of  matrimony  in  China,   12. 

Dying  and  renewal,   process  of,  125. 

Earth,   history  of  our,  100. 

Ego,  perceived  as  relation,  the,  162f. 

Elysian  fields,  15. 

Energy  of  a  living  being,  the,  72. 


INDEX.  201 

Entity,  the  soul's,  164;  man's,  169;  the  divine,  185. 

Equivalents  of  energy,   89. 

Eskimo,  the,  13. 

Eternal,  the,  181,  185f. 

Eternity,   183. 

Ether,  89. 

Evolution,  17,  26. 

Existence  beyond  the  grave,  37. 

Experience,  daily,   77. 

Faith,   founded  on  probability,   37. 
Fear,  effect  of,  131. 
Fechner,  Gustav,  V. 
Flourens,  129. 
Folk-lore,  IV. 
Food, 15fi. 

Forces,    inorganic,    74;    as    qualities,    76;    and    resist- 
ance, 87. 
Forms  of  energy,  88. 
Foundation  fact,  Bjorklund's,  XII. 
Fries,  S.  A.  D.  D.,  VU. 
Fuel,   organic,   93. 
Function,   bodily,   48. 
Funeral  ceremonies,  7. 
Furnace  heat  and  the  sun,   109. 
Future  life,   modern  attitude  toward,   4. 

Geology,  62.  69. 

Ghosts,  25. 

God,  image  of,  22;  presence  of,  in  logical  laws,  180. 

Granfelt,  19. 

Grave,  communications  from  the,  7;  in  China,  12. 

Grew,  28. 

Harvey's  formula,  55f,   58,  62ff,   67,  122. 
Heat,  equivalents  of,  98f. 
Historical  process,    the,   46,   70,    188f. 
Hlerologists,  Germanic,  22. 


202  INDEX. 

Hoffman,  58. 

Honor,  22. 

Humanity,   a   higher   organism,    126;   the   link  between 

God  and  man,  177. 
Hunger,  156. 
Hydrates  of  carbon,  82. 

Idea,  man,  God's  eternal,  174. 

Idealism,  18,  194. 

Image  of  God,  the  soul  an,  172f,  179. 

Immaterial  experience,  45,  50. 

Immortality,  instinctive,  1,  2;  of  the  cell,  124. 

Incentives,  119. 

Indestructibility  of  matter  and  energy,  170. 

Indian  tribes,  13. 

Industry,  a  common  need  of,   145. 

Inertia,  111. 

Instinct,  faith  and,  4,  6;  social,  144. 

Intellect,   mechanical  equivalent  of,   90. 

Intelligence  and  the  soul,   132. 

Intuition,  26,   44,  173f. 

Islam,  15. 

Judaism,  15. 

Jungle  of  materialism,  the,  XV. 

Key,  Ellen,  VIII. 

Laboratory  results,   83,   84. 

Language,  cell,  164. 

Lavoisier,  72. 

Life-force,  so-called,  71,  73,  121. 

Life,  supernatural  origin  of,  123. 

Logical  laws  the  form  in  which  God  exists,  180. 

Limitations,  man's,  178. 

Lodur,  21. 

Machine,   the   living,   79,   139. 
Malplghl,  28. 


INDEX.  203 

Man,    a    social    organism    of    cells,    32;    responsibility 

of,  198. 
Material,   organic,   112f. 
Materialism,  19,  49,   85. 
Matrimony  in  China,   11. 
Matter,   47,   68,   88,  96,   118. 
Mechanical  toy,  man  not  a,  XTV. 
Mechanism   of   the    organism,    138. 
Memory,  146. 
Metamorphosis,  40. 
Micro-organic  world,  the,  58. 
Mid-ocean,    death   in,   12. 
Microscope,   the,   28,   155. 
Mirbel,  Brisseau  de,  29. 
Mind,  time-bound  and  space-bound,   XIV. 
Moldenhaver,  29. 
Molecules,  96. 

"Moss-clad    fragment,"    the,    65. 
Motility,   mechanical,   79. 
Mutability,  91. 
Mythology,   Germanic,  21. 

Nations  as  organisms,   31. 

Natural  science,  48,  191. 

Nirvana,  XIV. 

Nobel  prize,  the,  X. 

Negroes,  immortality  ideas  among,  12. 

Nordenskold,  13. 

Norse  sagas,  15. 

Odin,  22. 

Omne  vivum  ex  vivo,  59. 
Organic  structure,  33,  83,  84. 
Origin  of  life,  the,  70. 
Oxygen,  102. 

pacific  Ocean,  10. 
Parasites,  54. 


204 INDEX. 

Parseeism,  15. 

Pasteur,  58. 

Permanence,  law  of,  89,  91. 

Personal  existence  after  death,   6. 

Philosophy  of  science,   the,   73. 

Polar  regions,  10. 

Pre-existence,  171. 

Prehistoric  beliefs,  4,  188. 

Present,  the  eternally,  182. 

Presentiment,  2. 

Priestley,  72. 

Primitive  ideas  of  immortality,  10. 

Principles  of  life  and  physical  force,  90,  91,  121. 

Propagation,  54,  55,  61. 

Providence,    133,  197. 

Psychical  Research,   society  for.  III. 

Psychologic  order  of  evolution,  5. 

Purpose,  organic,   149. 

Pyre,    the   funeral,   190. 

Reasoning,  headlong,  20. 
Re-birth,  40. 
Recapitulation,  188. 
Religious  instincts,   17. 
Resurrection,   15f,   150,   166,  190. 
Rydberg,   Victor,    21,    172. 

Sagas,  15. 

Samoyede  grave,  a,  13. 

Scheele,  72. 

Schroder,  57. 

Schultze,  57. 

Schwann,  57. 

Science  and  resurrection,  16,  20,  74. 

Scylla  and  Charybdis  of  science,  the,  XTV. 

Sin,  198. 

Skeptical  attitude,  modern,  3f. 

Society,  human,  32,  143,  158. 


/A7:'/:X. 205 

Solar  system,  the,  184. 

Sorcerers,  25. 

Soul,  future  life  of  the,  8,  14;  physiologists  and  the, 
127;  functions  of  the,  ,130.  134;  a  spiritual  princi- 
ple, 151. 

Spallanzani,  57. 

Spiritual  body,  a,  19f,  22.  26,  34f,  190,  195;  vision,  43; 
interaction,    152;   beings,    175. 

Spontaneous  generation,  51.  52,  59,  105,  122. 

Substance,   living,   124;   comprehending,   153. 

Sun,    importance   of  the,   104. 

Supernatural  forces,  45,  67. 

Steam  engine,  art  and  the,   108,  110. 

Swedish  Peace  Society,  X. 

Teleological  casuality,  118. 
Telepathy,  III. 
Thomson,   Sir  William,   63. 
Time,  a  form  of  existence,   181. 
Tissues,  the,  142. 
Tomb,  life  in  the,  7. 
Tool,   the  organism  a,   135. 
Transcendental  world,   a,   42. 
Treviranus,  29. 

Units,  organic,  151. 

Unity  of  the  organism,   16Rf. 

Upsala,  VII. 

Veda  Aryans,  21,  23f. 
Virtue,  198. 
Vis  inertia,  llOf. 
Vitalistic  doctrine,   72. 

Will  incentive,  119. 
Wohler,  81. 


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